Risks and Sacrifices
by Slavok
Summary: The sequel to the much esteemed-sorry, I just had to say that-story, Your Past, My Future, this takes place a few months afterwards. Zero has managed to provoke the most powerful man in the world to join the war. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea, but that's the only way that it can end. Lelouch/Kallen and Suzaku/Euphie is the plan.
1. Chapter 1

Risks and Sacrifices

Chapter One

a/n This is the sequel to Your Past, My Future. If you haven't read it already, don't read this one. If you read the other one first, this will make slightly more sense.

Lelouch caught up to Kallen before she got out the door, but not before Suzaku saw him. His old friend looked away quickly. Being on opposite ends of a war could strain any friendship, and Suzaku was pitifully transparent. The fact that they were in the middle of a tentative peace and had been since Euphemia's Special Administration Zone became official a few months ago meant little. Zero was still Britannia's most wanted for murder, treason, inciting rebellion, and several others, and Suzaku was still a Britannian soldier. His loyalties, however, were split between his friend, his princess, and his empire, which was why they were both still alive.

That didn't mean that they were chummy, though. It just meant that they didn't try to kill each other all the time.

Kallen had been avoiding him as well. She never left him in the same room as Suzaku as would be expected of a bodyguard, but whenever she spoke to Lelouch, she had become snappish in a way that she probably thought of as subtle.

"I missed you at the meeting last night," Lelouch said as they exited the doors of Ashford Academy.

"I was busy," she replied. "Finals. Studying. You know. Oghi always tells me it's important, so, yeah."

"Of course," Lelouch said. He didn't say that her greatest talents lay in the cockpit of a Knightmare and that she'd be bored out of her mind at any desk job. He didn't need to.

"You know," she said after a moment, "I used to think that I'd be a Knightmare pilot for the rest of my life, that I'd be a part of a war that would shake the world. But it's not going to be like that, is it?"

"It could be," he said. "If you get killed doing it, then you will be a pilot for the rest of your life. Of course, that's something I'd like to avoid."

"Is that why you stopped?" She looked at him intently, looking for some sign that the rumors were wrong. _You've heard what they're saying. Has Zero lost his nerve? Have the miracles ceased? Have you become a coward?_

Lelouch knew what cowardice was. Cowardice was martyring yourself to stop someone else from winning your war. "No," he said instead. "I stopped because that's how it works. My only enemy is the emperor, and I can't defeat him until he joins the game." He didn't mention that he was playing a game of patience with a man within arm's reach of immortality.

"And if you're wrong?"

Then he'd have lost nothing besides initiative. "Have you ever known me to be wrong before?"

Kallen rolled her eyes. "I have to go. Let me know when you plan on doing something substantial."

He watched her go. Out of all the Black Knights, Kallen was the most loyal. Orange was absolutely loyal to his person, but Kallen was absolutely loyal to his cause and Zero's position as commander. If she was like this, then Todoh, Oghi, and the others…he could end up with a mutiny very soon. And Euphemia was getting impatient for Cornelia's release. She knew everything about him, and if she turned on him, he would fall. He couldn't keep on stalling for much longer, but the Black Knights would not be keen on losing their royal captive.

_Shall it finally be peace that destroys me?_ Conflict had a way of bringing people together. Peace had the opposite effect. Ideally, the Black Knights would dissipate when they were no longer needed, but _he wasn't done with them yet._

Putting his faith in the emperor's cruel brutality was the greatest risk he had taken in his life. He needed it to pay off.

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Kallen took the bus home. Her father's house had not felt like home since her brother died, and now all it had was her step-mother. They never liked each other, which was why they got along as well as they did. Whenever Kallen had to be absent to work with the Black Knights, her step-mother was more than willing to tell the school she was sick. She always assumed that her mongrel step-daughter was part of a gang due to her half-breed nature, and was happy to encourage any behavior that could get her killed.

No, her Britannian residence was good for her cover story, but it was not a place she stayed when she could help it. Her bus took her to the Special Administration Zone. Special Administration Zone—that was a mouthful by anyone's standards. What it meant as a place where her people could be treated like humans instead of dogs and be called Japanese instead of Elevens, _that_ was incredible, but Princess Euphemia just didn't have Zero's dramatic flair for names. People had started started calling it the SAZ, but it sounded too much like the ill-fated JLF. Eventually, they came up with a name that fit.

Kallen smiled as the bus passed under a large sign that read, "Welcome to Utopia."

A lot of people in the Black Knights and the ghettoes looked down on the people who had accepted Euphemia's offer, calling them cowards and sellouts. And yet, there was something beautiful about Utopia. It wasn't as dismal as the ghettoes, but neither was it as wasteful and extravagant as the settlements. It had the air of a free people that knew better than to take it for granted.

But Kallen didn't come to Utopia for the atmosphere. She came because it was her home. Her real mother used to work at her father's house as a maid, until she got caught up in refrain. Then she ended up in Britannia's legal system, which, as everyone knew, was a whore to be sold to the highest bidder. All it took was her father's credit card number and her grandmother's maiden name, and fifteen years in prison became fifteen weeks.

Kallen found it irritating, really, that what her father discounted as his teenaged daughter's shopping spree was worth another woman's freedom, but such is life.

She got out of the bus near the apartment that she had moved her mother into. Rent and groceries came, in part out of the money her mother had saved up over the years, and partly from Kallen's own allowance. The fact that she got paid more for doing nothing than her mother did for working was another thing that irritated her.

She raised her hand to the doorbell, but stopped. Why should she ring? Why couldn't she just walk in? You don't knock to be admitted to your own home, right? She shouldn't _have_ to feel this awkward.

She opened the door and stepped inside. "Mom! I'm home!"

They were a free, happy people in Utopia, more than they had been for eight years. At headquarters, the Black Knights had started wondering why Zero had become so uncharacteristically unimpressive, asking _if_ he would land a crushing blow against the enemy instead of _when_. Kallen had been one of them more often than she liked to admit, but in Utopia, she felt that she understood Zero a little more. He never wore his emotions out in the open, so it was easy to think that he cared for nothing but victory, but _this_ was a victory. They could make grandiose plans to shake the world, but this little spec of light and freedom was worth protecting all by itself.

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Gino was born to fly. All his life, he'd been no more than a decent Knightmare pilot, but ever since the eighth generation, Knightmares had been taking off, and Gino took off with them. In his Tristan, he managed to impress the Emperor himself, and he had just recently been promoted to his personal Knights. He just wished that he had a different first mission.

"Alright, this is a simple mission, so I'll have the polished skull as a pencil holder of anyone who screws up today."

That was Luciano, the Knight of Nine. He outranked Gino by just one number, but that was enough. "You can come up with the most charming images, you know," Gino said. He used the private intercom between the two Knightmares, not wanting to undermine Luciano in front of the fleet. And it was a fleet. Five hundred Vincents, all capable of flight and equipped with the state-of-the-art weaponry. It was enough to take on an entire country.

"Hey, lordling," Luciano responded from the Percival. "I didn't ask to babysit you, and with a mission like this, I really don't need your help at all. But you're stuck with me, so just follow my lead and don't make a fool of yourself, and we'll get along just fine."

Gino doubted that. They hadn't gotten along since they first met. If Gino was born to fly, Luciano was born to kill. You didn't get a nickname like the Vampire of Britannia through pacifism.

They organized the fleet to surround the…what was it? It wasn't a ghetto, and it wasn't a settlement. It was something in between. "It just seems like there must be a better way of doing this." They were looking for a masked terrorist who called himself Zero, probably in defiance of the way his people were called Elevens. He had managed to capture the previous viceroy and kill the one before that, and the current viceroy hadn't done much to stop him. Maybe she was scared, or maybe she was comfortable in the position Zero had landed her. Either way, the Emperor was bothered enough to send in the Knights of the Round.

"It's worked so far," Luciano replied. "Weren't you awake during the briefing? The first time he showed up was just like this when a ghetto was attacked, and he was drawn out again when Cornelia reenacted it."

_And he ended up being pronounced dead._ "Yeah, but I don't think he was so outnumbered those times. He'd be crazy to show up if we had a hundred Knightmares." Gino didn't mention that slaughtering civilians until someone got the courage to stand up to them made him feel ill. He didn't think Luciano would understand.

Luciano actually paused in consideration. "I'll tell you what," he said finally. "If he doesn't show up, then the next place we raze, I'll bring less."

They stopped in front of a sign over one of the major entrances to the city. It read, "Welcome to Utopia."

Luciano started laughing.

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Princess Euphemia was going to change the world someday. The world needed changing very much. Eventually, people would start taking her seriously. When that happened, her job would get harder. An entire fleet had been sent to attack the Special Administration Zone that she had personally fought through the political cesspool to establish, and no one had bothered to tell her until the day of. It may have been because people were worried she'd try to do something about it, but she suspected that it was because no one thought she needed to know.

Euphie pushed open the door to Schneizel's office and stormed inside. "Did you know about this?"

Her brother was sitting at his desk conversing with some official, an ensign, or an envoy, or something—Euphie didn't care. "If you'll pardon me, we'll have to deal with this another time," he said, dismissing the man. The official bowed and left the room. "Please, sit," Schneizel said to her.

"Did—you—know about this?" she said, still standing.

Schneizel sighed and leaned back in his chair, not meeting her eyes. He had a lavish and extremely well decorated office. Some of Clovis's paintings had ended up here. "There is little that goes on that I do not know about."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" she asked. "Why didn't you _do_ something about it?"

"I didn't tell you because I feared that it would inspire you to do something foolish. You are a kind-hearted individual, Euphie, and a good person. I would not see you die in a hopeless conflict if I can avoid it. I didn't do anything about it because there was nothing I could do. The men under me are loyal to the empire, not to individual princes. I could trade my life for a chance to negligibly annoy our father, but I do not fight battles I cannot win, Euphie, and you shouldn't either."

"So, that's it?" she sputtered. "The SAZ was my project, but you approved of it!"

"Yes, but it's not worth dying for!" Schneizel said, rising from his chair. "I thought it would weaken the Black Knights, that's all. Maybe the Knights of the Round will be able to finish them off. We already lost Clovis to that man." He paused to gaze at one of their brother's paintings. "And if Cornelia is still alive, I'd rather end this before we lose her too."

He was trying to manipulate her. Schneizel knew how sentimental she could be. But what Euphie just realized was that their father's knights weren't there to demolish the Special Administration Zone, they were there to kill Lelouch. Schneizel thought he could influence her because of how much she loved her siblings, but it hurt too much to lose them once, and she wasn't going to lose any of them twice.

"I will not lose myself to save my sister's life," she said slowly. Schneizel cocked his head at the comment. "And neither will I lose myself to save my own." She closed her eyes and pressed the intercom button on Schneizel's desk.

"Yes, your Highness?" his secretary answered.

"Send in my knight Suzaku immediately," she said.

"Yes, your Highness."

Schneizel looked at her in confusion and dismay. "What are you doing?"

There was the courage of the mighty, and there was the courage of the meek. "Those people left their homes because they trusted me. I will protect them in any way I can."

"But you can't protect them! You may die with them, if your life means nothing to you, but if the Emperor wants those people dead, then they are already lost."

She turned form him and faced a painting on the wall. It was one of her favorites, painted by Clovis shortly after they received news of Lelouch's and Nunnally's deaths. It had the two of them together with their mother, smiling.

"I had a brother once," she said softly. "He wasn't afraid to stand up to people stronger than he was, even when he knew he couldn't win. He's not here anymore, and I sometimes I thought that you were almost as good as him. But if you won't do anything, then I will." She turned and left him to sit alone in his office.

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Kallen was trying to study for her finals when it happened. She had tried to make small talk with her mother as she prepared dinner, but what could she say? I'm sorry I treated you like dirt all those years you've been working for me? Also, Naoto got killed after becoming a terrorist, and guess what I'm doing every night. There are some things that you should never, ever tell your mother.

She had almost managed to focus on the number of joules that were added to the system when five moles of methane combusted when she saw a Knightmare floating outside her window. She put her books down to look at it. The only Knightmare she knew about that could fly was Zero's Gawain, but this Knightmare was different. It was smaller and red and gold instead of the Gawain's black and gold design. An identical one hovered in the distance. Looking around, she could see at least a hundred of those things, floating exactly the same way bricks don't.

_What are you planning, princess?_

"What's going on, Kallen?" her mother asked. She joined her next to the window and paled. "Dear? Step away from the window. It could be dangerous."

Kallen wanted to tell her that she worried too much, but she had a point. While Knightmares appeared in parades and the like, their primary function was war. _If this is a show of force, pretty soon their going to announce some horrible new—_

The Knightmares open-fired, and the building across the street collapsed into rubble.

"Look out!" The two of them ducked under the window, as though half a foot of wood and plaster would protect them more than half an inch of glass.

"We have to get underground somewhere," Kallen decided. Had the princess gone nuts, or was this her plan all along? This place had a cellar, right? Her mother would be safe there until Zero arrived. She led her downstairs.

Outside, engines roared and people screamed.

"Wait," her mother said. "Where is Naoto? Naoto should be here."

"What? Naoto is…" The side effects of refrain could last for ages. Kallen winced. She didn't have time to deal with this right now.

"He should be here right now."

She led her into the cellar. "I'll, I'll go look for him," she said brightly.

"What? Don't go, you should stay here."

"I'll be right back," she said, closing the door with her mother on the other side. "Stay here. I love you."

She had to go get help. No, only one man could help them now, and he might need _her_ help. And that meant that she'd need to get to her Guren, and _that_ meant that she'd need to get out of Utopia. She barged into the home of her next-door neighbor.

"Old-man Tengu, I need to borrow your bike.

Old-man Tengu was a short, balding man with leathery skin. He had worked his whole life to be able to retire comfortably, and had lived for too long before the invasion to become accustomed to Britannian rule. After he retired, though, he found a comfortable retirement to be incredibly dull, so he bought a motorcycle.

"My…what? Oh, no, child. If you try to run, they'll see you. No, no, you can only hide and hope they don't notice you're alive or until help comes."

"Who's going to help us?" she demanded. "The Brits? They're busy killing us. The only people strong enough to stand up to them are the Black Knights!"

"Then wait until _they_ come!"

"I am a Black Knight!"

Tengu stopped dead, and for a moment forgot about the havoc outside. "You are?"

She nodded. "I've been fighting alongside Zero since Shinjuku. I even helped capture Cornelia at Narita."

"You've met him?" he asked incredulously. "You've actually met Zero? Is it true what they say about him?"

"What they say doesn't even come close."

"And he'll come for us?"

"He'll come," she said with a grin. "Being outnumbered and outmatched never stopped him before."

Tengu fished out his keys and tossed them to her. "You're a Black Knight," he muttered to himself. "I don't believe it."

"Thanks," she said, heading out the door. "Don't tell my mom."

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Suzaku approached his princess and bowed formally. "I am at your command."

Euphie bit her lip. "I cannot command you, Suzaku," she said. "Not in this."

"What happened?"

"Something horrible. It's worse than anything I could have imagined."

Suzaku tensed. "Is it Zero?"

"What? No, no, it's worse. Much worse. Suzaku, my father has sent his armies to assault the Special Administration Zone."

"The Emperor is attacking Utopia?"

_Is that what they're calling it? _"Yes. If I order you to stop them, I'll be committing treason, and if you go, you will too."

"I swore to you my life, your Highness," he said, looking up at her. "I will go wherever you send me." He rose and turned.

"I'll send help as soon as I can find it," she said. As if there were more people loyal enough to her to betray the empire. She felt like she was sending her friend into the jaws of death. "Just promise me…promise me that you'll come back alive."

He turned and smiled at her without fear. "I'll come back for you," he said. "I promise."

He left, and Euphemia had only one more call to make. "Lelouch?" she said after dialing her cell phone. "I need your help."

"Sure, Euphie," he said easily. "What can I do for you?"

"They're attacking it, Lelouch!" she said. "They're attacking the Special Administration Zone!"

"Who is?"

"Our father! He sent a huge invasion force, and he's going to destroy it for no reason!"

Lelouch paused. He should have felt concerned for the innocent people who were about to be killed, but instead he wanted to laugh. _Finally!_ "That monster!" he said with an inaudible grin.

"I already sent Suzaku ahead to stop them, but without backup he won't last long."

"Wait, you sent him against the imperial army alone?" It would have been better to have him wait until they could coordinate an attack, but this could work out as well. "Fine. I'll get my men together, and be there as soon as I can."

He hung up, and let out the laughter he'd been holding in. But not for too long. He had a war to fight, after all. A war that had finally begun.

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a/n And you thought that I'd take forever writing this, didn't you? Well, don't get used to it. This is just because school's out and I have no friends, and I can only read Les Misérables for so long before I have to do something else. Personally, I'd feel nervous about living in a place called Utopia. I mean, it just screams "Too good to be true," but what else would you call it? And now, if it gets destroyed later, I can have someone say, "My Utopia lies in ruins!" That's a terrible reason to destroy a city, but oh well. By the way, in case you didn't catch it, this is slightly before R2 began, so Gino just recently started being a part of the Knights of the Round. He's Ten and Luciano's Nine. Come to think of it, without Suzaku as Seven, Luciano should be Eight, but let's just say that there was another Knight of the Round who died shortly before R2 began.


	2. Chapter 2

Risks and Sacrifices

Chapter Two

Kallen rode through the open streets on a jet black motorcycle. After over a year piloting Knightmares, she thought that driving a motorcycle would be no problem, but racing through a warzone at over sixty miles per hour was different when you had a plastic helmet instead of a foot of steel to protect you.

Screams and gunfire filled the air, and the city burned. The sooner she got out of Utopia, the sooner she could return.

A Knightmare appeared on the road in front of her. She tried to swerve out of the way, but she hit the thing's landspinners, catapulting her out of her seat and into the air. She smacked the asphalt and rolled. When she opened her eyes, she wasn't aware of her scraped knees or elbows, she was aware only of the Knightmare's anti-infantry minigun pointed at her.

Unarmed and defenseless, she hadn't felt this helpless since…

An immaculate white Knightmare severed the first one in two with a crimson sword. It exploded and flooded the air with a sudden heat. It was the Lancelot. _Suzaku!_ Kallen made a mental note to be nice to him some time.

If Suzaku saw or recognized her, he gave no sign. He raised his rifle and fired at another group of Knightmares flying overhead, felling two and drawing the attention of the rest. He seemed to be trying to take on the entire fleet singlehanded.

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Suzaku didn't keep track of how many Knightmares he had destroyed, but he knew he couldn't keep it up for much longer. They were a new model, seemingly based on his own Lancelot, but slightly cheaper. He could face one of them without a problem, but all together, they were whittling away at his defenses. He had a float device, but it drained his power core like nothing else. The other Knightmares didn't seem to have that problem.

"Finally, some resistance!"

Suzaku looked up and saw a floating Knightmare armed with a pair of scythes. _Great,_ he thought. _Just what I need. Some guy who models his Knightmare after Death._

"You one of Zero's guys?" the man asked. "Where are the rest of you?"

"What? Hold on. You're waging an unprovoked assault against unarmed civilians, and you're accusing _me_ of terrorism?"

The man paused. "Wait, you're not one of Zero's. You're Lancelot, aren't you?"

Close enough. Suzaku didn't want to identify himself to avoid implicating Euphemia, but he knew he'd be recognized eventually.

"Are you in charge here?" Suzaku asked.

"Sort of. I'm Gino, the Knight of Ten. You may have heard of me." He hadn't. Gino took his two weapons and fused them into a single, double-bladed scythe. "I never liked fighting people who can't fight back. That kind of sucks for you right now."

He fell out of the air and swooped down at him. Suzaku jumped out of the way and activated his shield to block the passing blow. He fired a slash Harken, and when Gino dodged out of the way, the bolt landed in another Knightmare. _A Vincent!_ He suddenly remembered Lloyd talking about them. He used the Vincent as an anchor to launch himself at Gino. Gino jumped out of the way. Suzaku flung the incapacitated Vincent at him, which he blocked with his scythe.

"You said you don't like fighting people who can't fight back," Suzaku said. "So what are you doing here?"

"Hey, it's nothing personal. I'm just following orders."

"But you decide to follow those orders, don't you?"

"Orders are orders," Gino said defensively. "If you tried to pick and chose which ones to follow, you'd find yourself committing treason. Or terrorism. Are you sure you're not a terrorist?"

"Do you think these people care why you're killing them?" Suzaku demanded. "Oh, look at that man burning our homes and slaughtering our children. What a loyal and obedient knight he is!"

"I don't like it either!" Gino protested. "But if I don't do it, someone else will."

"And if anyone's going to have a bloodbath, it might as well be you. Well, I don't think these people need to die, and they shouldn't have to. I will protect them if I can, and if that's what it means to be a terrorist, I'd be ashamed to be called anything else!"

_Great. I'm starting to sound like Zero._ He remembered when he first joined the military. He had been planning to work his way into Britannia, and change it from within. Back then there had been no hole he wouldn't crawl through, no hoop he wouldn't jump through to do what was expected of him. Then he had met Euphemia, and suddenly there was something in his life that he wouldn't compromise.

A group of Vincents enclosed around him, interrupting their duel. Suzaku sped away, hoping that their differences in speed would allow him to fight them one at a time. He swung his sword through an unsuspecting Vincent and remembered the last bit of bravado he had shown Euphie before he left, a promise that he had to keep.

Surrounded by over a hundred enemies with his energy nearly depleted, Suzaku found himself, for the first time in eight years, afraid to die.

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Zero strode down the hall of the Black Knights' headquarters, his black cape billowing behind him. It was a tribute to his men that after several months of waiting, they hadn't lost their efficiency and discipline. They were truly the finest men he could have hoped to have under him.

"Ah, that's sweet," Mao said, approaching him. "But I bet I'm not included in that. Anyway, Rakshata wants a flying monkey."

"What? Mao, I don't have time for your crazy. Either make sense or shut up."

"No, I'm serious. Old man Chuck released the flying monkeys, and your mad scientist wants you to bring her back one."

"Fine," he said. "When this is over, she can have all the flying monkeys she wants."

"Ha!" Mao said, pointing a triumphant finger at Tamaki, who was standing nearby, pretending not to be listening. "And you thought I couldn't make him say it."

"You let me down, Zero!" Tamaki scowled, pulling out his wallet and handing Mao a five dollar bill. "You let me down!"

Zero grimaced in frustration as Tamaki stormed off. _Mao, get close enough to Princess Euphemia to know what's happening to her. If Schneizel is nearby, alert me if he takes command._ Mao nodded and left. Zero saw Oghi and stopped him as he passed by. "Has Q-1 reported in yet?"

Oghi shook his head. "She didn't answer her phone when I called, so I left a message. If she arrived later, I haven't seen her yet."

"She's not here," Mao called over his shoulder. "Of course, I've been wrong before. Oh, wait, never mind."

Zero dismissed Oghi, pulled out his phone, and called her himself.

"Hey, Zero," she said. "Fancy hearing from you at a time like this." She sounded out of breath.

"Kallen. You wanted me to call you when I planned to do something substantial. Well, it's time."

"Great. Does your plan have anything to do with the massive invasion force of flying Knightmares destroying the Special Administration Zone?"

"Oh, have you heard about it?"

"I'm kind of in the middle of it," she said.

Zero stopped. "What? Where are you?"

"Under the rubble of a demolished building. I figure they won't destroy the same thing twice until they get bored."

"What on earth are you—never mind. How close are you to an exit?"

"I'm about a mile away from the east gate. I could get there in about five minutes, you know, if the people trying to kill me don't slow me down."

Zero thought quickly, and a plan began to form in his mind. There was a greater element of risk involved, but it also risked being more effective. And most of all, it was much more dramatic.

"Okay, at the east gate, you will find Oghi with a small force waiting for you. They'll bring the Guren with them, and you'll be briefed on the details of the mission. When I give you the signal, start running. I don't want to have to start this fight without you."

"What's the signal?"

"You'll know it when you see it," he said. "Good luck."

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"I've got forty-two already!" Luciano gloated. "What are you up to?"

Gino winced. His duty was Luciano's game. That was another difference between them. Besides their number of limbs and other anatomical features, they really had nothing in common. "I found someone in a Knightmare, and I've been focusing on him," Gino said. "Besides, I find basic demolition work beneath me."

"Snob," Luciano said, but his heart wasn't in the insult. He was feeling too giddy.

Gino could think of several words to describe his associate, but he kept them to himself, just like he kept to himself the real reason he had managed to avoid killing anyone during the entire massacre. Chasing after that Lancelot guy was just an excuse, but he had begun to realize that this job just wasn't for him. As soon as the mission was over, he'd resign from the Knights of the Round.

"Imperial butchers and children of slaughter," came a voice from the sky. The sun was red when they arrived, but now the sky was a midnight black. A solitary, black and gold Knightmare stood alone above the city. "Your time has ended."

The Knightmares rose to meet the newcomer, surrounding him like the arms of a hurricane. "I take it you're the infamous Zero," Luciano said. "It's about time you showed up. I was starting to run out of people to kill."

"I come to offer you a deal," Zero said. "You will leave this place immediately and never seek to harm them again."

"And I suppose you're offering that in exchange for your life?" Gino presumed. He could respect that, though if Zero was willing to give himself up, why wait until now to show up?

"No. I do it in exchange for yours. Refuse my offer, and none of you will leave here alive."

There was a moment of stupefied silence. "Do you have any idea who we are?" Luciano demanded. "We are the elite force employed by the Emperor himself, and I am one of his personal knights. And if you haven't noticed, we outnumber you five hundred to one. So unless you have an army somewhere that you're not telling us about, you must have a very clever plan."

"I know who you are," Zero said with contempt. "And I'm offering you a chance to run."

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The people below did not cheer when they saw Zero arrive, they were too busy hiding. But they heard, and they knew they're savior. They heard, and knew they had no hope but Zero.

The Britannian forces had surrounded him, but only on two dimensions. Float devices were relatively new, and they didn't have Zero's experience in aerial warfare.

"I'm going to have to decline your offer," Luciano replied. Zero remembered the last time he had encountered the man. He was a skilled pilot, not that Zero cared for a rematch. Or needed one. "I've never passed up a battle before if you have a hidden army, and if you have a clever plan, then I am _really_ curious."

"Indeed. Then on the way down, ask yourself if you believe in a God of miracles." Without warning, Zero deactivated the float device and plummeted out of the air. C.C. took over immediately and flew the Gawain to the ground as fast as it could go.

"You know," she said, "I think you enjoy this sort of thing far too much." Enemy fire fell around them like rain. This was the element of risk.

"What's not to enjoy?" Zero asked, operating the defense system. While not the Shinkiro, Rakshata had equipped the Gawain with a similar defense system which blocked most of the enemy attacks. Surrounded by an entire army, the shields would break down in seconds. However, the Britannian army didn't have seconds.

"I told you this before, but I can't have you dying on me."

"Don't worry," he said. "There is hardly any risk involved at all. This is just planning, strategy, and most of all, preparation."

The underground subway system was undamaged, fortunately. Zero had someone check before he walked into the lion's den. Apparently it wasn't on the Britannians' list of things to destroy. C.C. landed on the tallest remaining, and Zero activated the trap that Rakshata had been working on nearly exclusively for months.

The Gefjun disturber had never before been used in battle in this timeline. No one had even thought of designing countermeasures to it. Everything in Utopia blacked out, and all the Knightmares came crashing down.

WWW

Kallen smiled with satisfaction. Once again, Zero had taken an impossible situation and flipped it over on its head. Ohgi had explained some of what had happened, but Kallen didn't understand, and she suspected that Ohgi didn't either.

She thought about how it would be like to be flying, the world small beneath her, and then to suddenly start to fall. It had to have been terrifying for them. Kallen couldn't find them any pity. They shouldn't have come here in the first place. How dare they attack Utopia? How_ dare_ they attack her home?

Not all of the Knightmares got destroyed, but the survivors were damaged and disorganized. Kallen touched one, and it exploded. She had the touch of Midas, only instead of gold, she turned things into fire. She didn't have time to relish the mayhem that she was, though. She had a job to do.

"There you are!" she said, spotting her target. She found Suzaku doing what he'd been doing since the start of the fight. "Zero said you'd be low on energy."

"Yeah, well he's right. I'm down to five percent."

"Well, I'm not a delivery girl, but Zero told me to give you this," she said, handing him an extra energy filler. "Consider it payback for saving my life earlier."

"When did I save your life?"

Kallen grimaced. "Stop rubbing it in and take your dumb battery already!"

"Right," Suzaku said. He loaded the energy filler into his Knightmare. "You know, we haven't been on the battleground like this since Narita."

"Yeah, I remember that," Kallen said nostalgically. "I remember beating you."

"I call interference on that one," Suzaku said. "Your boss was talking to me. It was very distracting."

"Oh, you poor boy. If you want, we could have a rematch. Let's say, first person to thirty kills?"

"I already got thirty."

"You had a head start. Start over."

"Whatever you say," he said in a tone that implied that he didn't really care. When he was really in the mood, he could rival a milk cow for competitive spirit. "So what's the plan, anyway?"

"Well, all our friends are on the outside of the city, and they're going to drive the filthy Brits into the middle, no offense."

"I'm not Britannian."

"We're already in the middle, so our job is to wreck havoc and prevent them from forming an organized defense."

"Makes sense," Suzaku said. "But, correct me if I'm wrong, but won't the sheer bulk of the Britannian military be shoved on top of us?

"Like butter to a hot knife," Kallen replied with a grin. "We're the cliff that they're going to be driven off of. Let's go."

WWW

Calares entered Schneizel's office, bearing ill news.

"Your Highness," he said. "You have been requested to take over command of the battle." He was a duke, and was competent in his own respect. Whenever the Emperor sent is personal forces into established Areas, he often included an official to mediate between his army and the local government.

"Yes, I know," Schneizel said dismissively. "I declined yesterday. I did not approve of the…tactics involved."

"Yes, I know you couldn't stomach them, but it's different now."

"Stomach them?" Schneizel repeated. "No, no, I've killed thousands before when I had to, and tens of thousands, but the moral high ground is a very real advantage, and to throw it away like that? It seemed foolish. It would only create martyrs, and martyrs are more potent dead than alive." His eyes fell on one of the paintings that adorned his office. "Like the work of an artist, perhaps."

He didn't mention that the battle served no apparent purpose. Zero was already neutralized, his Black Knights dwindling. Why did his father care so much that he had to be captured instead of incapacitated? And why kill thousands of people to do it? The Emperor never cared much for the lives of his conquered enemies, or for the lives of his own people for that matter, and he was never known to be a subtle man when bold, powerful statements could be made, but he was not foolish. He was after something, something more than a clever terrorist who played the world like a chess game. If Schneizel understood what, he'd understand his father a little better.

"Yes, I understand," Calares said, even though he didn't. "But things are different now. Zero has returned, and we need someone of your military genius to direct the men."

Schneizel perked up at that. "And what of the man who was granted the charge? That charming Luciano character, what happened to him?"

"We don't know," Calares said. "We cannot contact him, and we assume he has been destroyed."

"And his second?"

"The entire line of command had been terminated."

Schneizel's eyes widened. This Zero was more impressive than he thought. "I see. In that case, I will need you to brief me on what happened.

Calares looked at him incredulously. "You mean you haven't been watching the battle?"

"Forgive me," he said. "My mind had been occupied by…other things."

Calares loaded a map of the Special Administration Zone onto the big screen. Allied Knightmares were marked by white triangle, enemies by black ones. There were hundreds of white triangles, but only one black.

"The battle was as you see here. The only enemy present was Euphemia's knight, Suzaku." He moved the scenario forward to where all the white triangles formed a circle around the middle of the map, Suzaku all but forgotten. "At this point, our units abandoned their posts to gather around this point. And then this happened." All the units disappeared from the map. "And then this." The units reappeared, but there were much less of them, nearly half. "Now the map looks like this." Only a quarter of the Britannian Knightmares remained, disorganized but surrounding a pair of black units, but were also surrounded by another small force.

"Fascinating," Schneizel said. "Do you have any idea what caused the black out?"

"None, sir. However, some of the men reported that their Knightmares deactivated in midair."

"Indeed. In that case, there is little I can do except order a retreat."

"Retreat?" Calares repeated. "But sir! You're supposed to be a tactical genius, and we still outnumber them more than two to one!"

"And our men are frightened, confused, and disorganized, and our enemies have weapons that we do not understand. Any plan I make would be limited by what I do not know. Retreat, research, and return, in that order. And we will retreat…" He scanned the map for weaknesses in the enemy's defenses. "Feign an attack _here_, and when the Black Knights regroup to counter that, they should leave us an opening _here_. That is all."

WWW

The Black Knights remained on the field of victory. The people would remember this day, the day that fifty of their defenders sent five hundred tyrants scurrying away in defeat. But not for long, for this day would be overshadowed by even greater victories.

"What do you mean, you lost count?" Kallen demanded, sitting atop her Guren.

"I had more important things to worry about," Suzaku said defensively from his Lancelot.

"Yeah right," she said. "You just don't want to admit that I'm better than you."

"Well, if we're on the same side, does it matter?"

Kallen rolled her eyes. "You're hopeless, Suzaku, just hopeless. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Right. That reminds me, I have to get going." He reentered the Lancelot and drove it over to where Zero was administrating. "Hey, Zero, I just have to say, thanks for showing up when you did. I'd be dead if you didn't. And, I think I'm starting to understand you better." Zero doubted that, but said nothing. Suzaku paused awkwardly for a response, and continued. "Anyway, I have to report back."

"Is that wise?" Zero asked. "I doubt the government would smile upon your actions this night."

"No, but if I'm in trouble, then Euphie probably is too. If I go back, I can say that I acted on my own. Besides, I have promises to keep. I'm sure you can understand that."

"I'm afraid I can't allow that," Zero said. "You are too valuable to be returned to my enemies like a lamb to the slaughter."

"Well, if you think it's dangerous and you're not too tired, you can come with me," he suggested.

"No, I think I'd rather just capture you."

Suzaku forced a laugh. "Ha ha, you're joking, right?"

"This is not my joking face," Zero said. "Todoh, take him with the other prisoners. Rakshata said she wanted to study his Knightmare."

Suzaku drew his sword. "Okay, this whole getting surrounded by enemies thing is getting old! What's your problem, Zero? We don't have to be enemies in this!"

"No, but us working with you is not the same thing as you working with us," Zero said. "And unlike you, I do not make compromises."

"If you think for one moment that I'm going to just lie down and let you—"

"Yes, I do." From his Gawain, Zero typed in the commands to deactivate Suzaku's energy filler. The Lancelot shut down and the Black Knights took him away without a fight.

_I'm sorry, my friend,_ Zero thought to himself. _Euphie has already been arrested for treason. There is nothing you can do, but I _will_ do what I can. I promise._

WWW

After her duties were completed, Kallen took her Guren speeding through the ruins of Utopia, looking for her mother. Their plan worked, but it was more than that. Zero could come up with a good plan in nothing flat, but setting up the Gefjun Disturbers would have taken a week at least to set up. This wasn't a surprise attack for everyone. He knew about it. _He knew._

WWW

a/n I just want to clarify something. The excerpt from the end of my last story was from the story that I intended _not_ to write, at least not now, in part because I liked Mao and didn't want to come up with my own Geass Directorate, but also because I prefer happy endings to the realistic alternative. By the way, has anyone read a story where Zero forms his own Geass Directorate? Oh well. I probably wouldn't have time to read it anyway. A lot of people mentioned the numbers involved with the Knights of the Round. I looked it up recently, and I found out that there are twelve spots instead of ten, but it's too late to change that now. The Knight of One gets extra special privileges, but since there is no evidence that the other numbers are only to differentiate, I am free to assume that the lower your number is, the more authority you have, which they never specified in the anime, because they figured that you'd rather watch them blow stuff up and kill each other instead of learn about imaginary politics. I also assume that a number of factors, and not just skill, play into rank. Also, I know that the Gefjun Disturber couldn't cover an entire city until the end of the second season, but the Gefjun Disturber was one of the few technologies that Lelouch took an active interest in. Bigger guns are one thing, but traps? That's the sort of thing you can come up with strategies for. Also, he had Rakshata work on it at the expense of constructing flying Knightmares of their own.

On a side note, I just want to say thank you for all the people who reviewed. I always get a thrill when I log in and see that I got another review. You can imagine my surprise when I came by the day after posting the previous chapter, and found more reviews than I ever got for any chapter since I started writing.

On another side note, why did Zero offer them a chance to run? One, because he was stalling, two, because it was impressive, and three, because that's what the Doctor would do, and I'm a Doctor Who fan.


	3. Chapter 3

Risks and Sacrifices

Chapter Three

The light was unpleasant by design. A single, flickering fluorescent bar ran across the ceiling and seemed to suck in life in exchange for its feeble illumination. The room was a solid grey. Behind a set of iron bars lay Princess Euphemia, former viceroy of Area Eleven.

Forced into a white prisoner's uniform with the sleeves bound together, she could not even sit up without effort. Her vibrant pink hair pooled across the cold floor beneath her, and in the poor lighting, she resembled a woman lying in a pool of her own blood.

"I have requested the position of advocate in your upcoming trial," Schneizel said. He paused for some response, but she said nothing. "While serious, this is your first offense, and you are still a minor, so I expect that we can get through this."

Shadows covered her eyes, but Shneizel was sure he saw her smile. "I told you so," she said.

"I'm sorry?"

"You said that there was nothing I could do," she said. "I did something."

Schneizel's brow furrowed. "With all due respect, Euphie, Suzaku's affect on the outcome was negligible. The Emperor's forces were defeated by the Black Knights, and in light of your upcoming trial, I would strongly advise you not to take credit for _their_ actions." It would have been better if she acted more repentant. If she continued so defiantly, nothing would keep her from an execution.

"I let my people know that I have not abandoned them," Euphie said. "That alone is worth my life."

"The Elevens are not your people! They are—_were_ your charge, and now they aren't even that."

"They were my responsibly, and they trusted me," Euphie said firmly. "I would not let them even think that I betrayed them."

Schneizel shook his head sadly. What had happened to her? She used to be so deferential. She could be stubborn when she wanted to be, but she was never confrontational. Some of his siblings he saw as rivals to the throne, but never her. He turned toward the exit to leave. He'd save her if he could, but if he couldn't…

"Have her moved somewhere more comfortable," he ordered a guard on his way out. "This is hardly fitting accommodation for a royal daughter of Britannia."

WWW

Off the coast of Area Eleven, far beneath the surface, the Black Knights had their own collection of prisoners. They kept a great deal of their equipment at their headquarters within the settlement, but whatever could escape and tell people about them, they kept in their submarine.

Zero watched the Black Knights force open the Lancelot's hatch. It would have been easier to replace the energy filler, but he doubted that Suzaku was in the mood to cooperate. The hatch opened, and Suzaku jumped out of it and ran towards Zero with vengeance on his face.

"You worthless traitor Lel—"

Zero shot him with a taser from his watch. "You'd think you would have learned from last time," he said calmly. By sheer force of will, Suzaku grabbed the wire, and tore it from the watch, and was promptly hit in the head by Todoh's sword. Perhaps out of nostalgia for his old student, Todoh left the sheath on. Suzaku fell to the ground unconscious.

"Put him in a cell by himself," Zero ordered. "No one is to see him until I have the chance to talk to him."

"So, what was that last thing he said?" Tamaki asked, towing Suzaku's body away. "Something that started with an L?"

"Lunatic?" Mao suggested. "Or maybe Lelunatic. Or maybe just Lelouch." Kallen breathed in sharply.

"What's a lelouch?" Tamaki asked.

"Britannian profanity," Kallen said quickly. "Brit punks use it to try to sound cool. It's very obscene. You probably shouldn't repeat it."

"Blech!" Tamaki said, disgusted. "I'm not using Brit slang. I got my own slang."

Kallen shot Mao a glare and gave Zero a look that said, "Yes, I just turned your name into a curse," and left, helping drag Suzaku off by his arms and legs.

"Inform Rakshata that she may study the Lancelot, but not dismantle it," Zero said, pretending to ignore the entire exchange. "We may need to use it very soon. Mao, come with me. We're going to examine our other prisoners."

Mao followed him down the hall, and not for the first time, Zero thought about the man's loyalty. No, it wasn't about loyalty, it was about games. What game was he playing? Zero invited him to join the Black Knights long ago under the promise that he would use his Geass to help Mao control his, which he was not entirely sure was possible. The emperor, however, could seal a Geass entirely. If Mao sold them out to the emperor in exchange, then…

Mao lowered his visor and winked at him. If he had forced himself to keep his face blank, it would have been as good as a confession.

Their prisoners stood in chains. Zero could have had them killed on the battlefield, but both their Knightmares were compromised with their pilots still alive. Luciano had raced after Zero in the beginning, and his inertia sent him crashing to the ground, unable to function when he activated the Gefjun disturber. Gino had his Knightmare in fortress mode at the time, and managed to glide into a crash landing until his Knightmare regained power. He had later lost in a duel to Suzaku, and had surrendered in exchange for Suzaku's "knight's honor" that he'd be treated fairly.

Gino had gone to high school with Lelouch for a short time. It was one of those absurdities of life that sometimes puzzled him.

Gino looked up when they came in, and his face went pale. Luciano seemed resigned, and looked at him with contempt.

"Tell me," Zero said. "What exactly were your orders when you arrived here?"

"To plant flowers," Luciano said. "To germinate the soft seeds with fire, and let the red blossoms fill the streets. The Emperor was unsatisfied with his garden, so he set his…gardeners."

Zero found the statement oddly metaphorical, but if there was one thing you could trust someone who called himself a homicide genius to wax poetic about something, it was mass murder.

"Why?"

"Because," Gino started, but Luciano cut him off.

"How much is this worth to you?" he asked. "Before we continue, let's talk price, shall we? Are you offering creature comforts, women, or just less time on the rack? I'm not saying we can't be bought, I'm just saying that we're not free."

Zero repressed a laugh. He didn't need them to talk to get information, but information wasn't his only objective. "What do you have in mind?"

Luciano grinned, or at least bared his teeth. "Liberty. That's what you freedom fighters are all about, right? Well, I didn't join the Britannian military so I could fight for Britannia, I joined the Britannian military so I could kill people, and I'm not picky who. I saw what you did at that Utopia place, Zero. Five hundred against fifty, and you _slaughtered_ us. That's the kind of warlord I can get behind. Let me out of here so I can fight for you, and I promise you that _I will_."

Wordlessly, Mao picked up a crowbar and smashed Luciano across the face with it.

"Ow!" Luciano said in shock. "Why'd you hit me with that?"

"Because _someone_ took away my chainsaw," Mao said, giving Zero a pointed look. "Also, I didn't introduce myself, did I? I'm Mao, your friendly neighborhood interrogator." He held up his crowbar. "And _this_ is my lie detector. You know those cheap electronic ones that go bing? This one goes smash! See, I know everything about you, right down to what kind of underwear you're wearing."

Gino gave him a frightened, disturbed look.

"It's not because I checked," Mao explained. "It's because I'm just that good. Go ahead, Gino. Lie to me."

Gino looked at the crowbar, at Mao, and at Zero standing behind him. "I really wish I weren't here right now," he said. Mao lowered the crowbar with disappointment.

"When I get out of here," Luciano said, his voice trembling with rage, "I will murder you." He spat out a bloody tooth that Mao had knocked free.

"That's lovely," Mao said. "You have no idea how sad I'd be if I thought you didn't care." He turned to address Zero's unspoken question. "What? The guy's not a complete monster. He's a patriotic monster. If he were a complete monster, he wouldn't brush his teeth so often." He picked up Luciano's bloodied tooth and showed it to him. "See? Perfect dental hygiene." He pocketed it for his own purposes, probably as a souvenir.

The door opened, and Kallen entered the room.

"Hey, Stockholm," Mao said. "Glad you could join us."

She stopped. "Stockholm?" she repeated. "That's not even my fake name."

"Yeah, I didn't expect you to get that joke," Mao replied with a theatric sigh.

"It wasn't funny," Zero said.

"Coming from a guy with your sense of humor?" Mao said. "I'd be insulted if you did laugh."

"Anyway," Kallen said. "Suzaku is secure. He woke up, and I told him to calm down until you could speak to him." She eyed the two Knights of the Round. "Personally, I don't see why we need to keep prisoners at all." There was a passion in her eyes that was rare, even for her.

Mao offered her his crowbar. "Do you want to borrow this?"

Kallen looked at the instrument longingly. "No thanks. One way fights don't suit me. But if they escape, I'd be more than happy to stick their eyes in pickle jars and give them back to you. Did you find out why they were sent to attack Utopia yet?"

Mao shrugged. "I'd need Emperor Chuckles here for that. They were just told that your neighborhood was a den of terrorist activity and they needed to flush us out. Zero's still not sure if the emperor meant them to fail or not."

Gino looked up sharply. "What? What do you mean, meant to fail?"

Kallen gave him a look of pure disgust. "Shut up, Brit. No one's talking to you."

"What did you mean?" he demanded again. "Tell me, what did you mean?"

Kallend walked over to him, put her hands on his neck, and pressed her thumbs into his trachea. "Was there anything else, Zero?" she asked through gritted teeth. "Or are you done?"

Kallen was always passionate about their purpose, but never cruel. Compared to the rest of the Black Knights, her mixed heritage had left her more open minded and less prejudiced. No, this wasn't just prejudice. Prejudice doesn't cause a man to hate another human being; it causes him to see another human being as less than human. Gino wasn't a noise that annoyed her; his voice was a torment that she wanted to end. It was almost frightening to watch. He would have to talk to her about it sometime.

"I am quite finished," he said. "Mao, I leave the prisoners in your charge. Don't have too much fun with them." He left the room. Kallen didn't follow her.

WWW

Zero wasn't worried about Euphemia. She was the emperor's hostage, despite what the official declarations said, and she would be safe until she became expendable. If he rescued her, the emperor would just take another one. He could take one of Lelouch's friends, but the emperor didn't think that way. To him, friends were a matter of convenience; blood was permanent. If Zero saved Euphemia, he'd go after Nunnally.

Deithard entered his office tentatively. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

Zero nodded and motioned him to sit. "How goes the propaganda?"

Deithard smiled. "Please, propaganda has such a negative connotation. Call it, public enlightenment." He leaned back in his chair. "I was, unfortunately, unable to film them destroying the city, but I did put together a montage of the destruction and I interviewed several of the survivors. I recorded your confrontation with Knights of the Round, and I have footage of you taking on the entire fleet single handedly ready to be released. I haven't yet because showing you in action would also show the Gefjun Disturbers in action."

Zero considered that. "No, go ahead and release it. They'll piece together what happened sooner or later, and your footage won't speed them up much."

Deithard smiled graciously. "The people will see you as a god when this is over, Zero. Some of them already do."

That was Deithard's passion and desire. Anyone could destroy someone's reputation, but building up a man's reputation to divinity was something else entirely. It didn't invigorate Zero as much as it should to know that Deithard was succeeding. Gods should be infallible, and Zero knew that he wasn't.

"I understand that you are recruiting one Shinozaki Sayoko," Zero said.

Deithard's eyes widened in a moment of surprise, but he recovered quickly. "Yes, actually. She is the thirty-seventh Successor of the Shinozaki School of martial arts. I decided to recruit her because I thought she would make a good spy, but you, being you, probably already know more about her than I do."

Deithard thought he was flattering him. He didn't know he was right. "Send her in as soon as you can. Tell her that I have a mission for her."

WWW

Schneizel wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting at his large mahogany desk pouring over battle reports when his assistant, Kanon, entered the room. "How goes the research, your Highness?" he asked.

Schneizel pushed aside the reports and leaned back in his chair. His back chinked. "I have discovered that I know much less than I thought I did. That is good, if not encouraging. I have come to the conclusion that Zero is not an Eleven."

"He isn't?"

"I doubt it," Schneizel said. "Military strategy of Elevens, and indeed most people on this hemisphere, stems from the tradition of Genghis Khan. He took a society of savages and transformed them into soldiers. He focused on unity and discipline, and he began what we now call war games. The western world follows the tradition of Hannibal. Instead of changing his men into a uniform mass, he took them as they came and found a use for them. He faced armies that were greater and more experienced than his own, and defeated them with strategy, trickery, and audacity. He managed to sneak over thirty war elephants across half of Europe. Who expects to be infiltrated by elephants? Regardless, there is much more of Hannibal in Zero than Khan."

Kanon frowned. "So if you don't think he's an Eleven, what does that make him? European?"

"He could be," Schneizel admitted. "But he is far more ruthless than any European I have faced. I'm tempted to think that he is Britannian." He smiled. "But maybe we are just teaching the world too well." An opponent with the loyalty of the Elevens, the military strategy of an European, and the ruthlessness of a Britannian. Global warfare was reaching new levels. "Anyway, what was it that you wanted?"

"Have you spoken with Lloyd yet?"

Kanon nodded. "When I explained what happened at the Special Administration Zone, he grew agitated and began cursing someone named Rakshata. Apparently they were colleagues in the past. He believes that a device called a Gefjun Disturber was involved, but does not yet have means to counter the device. I also looked into the matter of the Lancelot. Both Lloyd and his assistant, Cecile, claim that Suzaku threatened them at gunpoint to release the Knightmare, although I have my doubts."

"If they were traitors, they'd have left by now," Schneizel said dismissively. "Although it wouldn't surprise me if Lloyd released the Lancelot just to see how it would perform. Have a few guards placed to watch them anyway."

"There is one more thing," Kanon said. "I received a missive regarding the next viceroy."

"Yes, we do run through those quickly." Just last year Clovis was the Area's viceroy, and already Cornelia and Euphemia had taken their turns. It was almost like the position was cursed. "So who won the draw?"

"Actually, your Highness, you did," Kanon said. "The position of viceroy is yours, if you are willing to accept."

Him? Viceroy? He had served in such capacities before, and the position seemed beneath him. And yet, Area Eleven was not like other Areas. With the Black Knights coming back and the chance of further…interference from his father, it could prove challenging.

"I'll have to think about it."

WWW

Mao was not crazy. Sure, he could be caught talking to himself, and he heard voices all the time, but crazy? Far from it. He was the sanest man he knew. And he'd been in the minds of more than enough people to compare himself to. For the most part, they were filth wrapped in lies.

_I should just—no, I can't!_

_Man, it itches! I can't scratch with you looking at me._

_He knew, somehow. If she doesn't make it, I swear I'll kill him._

_It's about time we did something. We're going to drive those Brits back to Britannia! _

_What on earth is that smell?_

It was enough to drive a man insane.

Some people thought that everyone would get along better if they just understood each other. What they didn't get was that misunderstanding was an integral part of human relationships. When you didn't understand, you could give the other guy the benefit of the doubt; you could _assume_ that you had something in common. Mao assumed nothing. With all the chattering voices in his head, he wished they would all just shut up.

Of course, as long as he had a fun game, he could distract himself for a while. And Zero thought he'd run off to join the Britannian emperor. Yeah right.

WWW

"Well, this sucks."

Gino smiled slightly. Being a Knight of the Round was nowhere near what it was cracked up to be. The only way he managed to avoid being a mass murderer was by becoming a prisoner of war. He hadn't killed anyone that battle, but he hadn't stopped anyone else either. He thought about telling Zero that, but he doubted that the man would be impressed. He was still an enemy soldier, and under the circumstances doing nothing didn't quite cut it.

"Any ideas on how to break out of here?" Gino asked.

"Well, we are chained up in a locked room surrounded by enemies in a submarine underwater," Luciano said.

"So that means that we have the advantage because no one would expect us to be able to escape from an impossible situation," Gino concluded.

"Well, you got the impossible part right," Lucian replied. "If we wait for the military to find this sub, they'll sink it and we'll drown. No one's going to rescue us because we're not that important and we've failed. That means we're on our own."

Gino closed his eyes and rattled his chains. No, he couldn't give up yet. They had just gotten started. "It looks impossible if you look at the whole thing, but the trick to eating an elephant is to do it one bite at a time, and for us, the first bite is these chains. How good are you at picking locks?"

"Me? Not at all. I think it involves a pin of some sort, or a wire, but personally I've always used keys."

"What? But you're supposed to be the Vampire of Britannia! I thought vampires were supposed to be good with locks."

"Who told you that?"

"Dracula," Gino replied. "I read the book once."

Luciano snorted. "Well, I didn't get the nickname by lock picking."

"Then how did you get it?"

"I…does that really matter right now?"

"Do you have anywhere you have to go?"

Luciano sighed. "Alright. It was when I was fighting in Europe. The details don't matter, but the short story is that I was partnered up with someone named Grendel. He was…if someone took your face and your rectum and spliced them together, it would come out looking like him."

"Eew."

"He turned out to be a traitor and sold me out to the enemy where I ended up in a prison camp for a few months in a place called Madrid. I swore that if I ever saw him again I'd drink his blood and, well, the rest is history."

"So this is the second time you've been in something like this."

"Yep. It sucked then too.

"How'd you escape?"

"I didn't. We're winning the war there, and after a while our forces started encroaching in. The prison guards wanted to execute all the prisoners before we got there, but I told them that if they didn't, I'd see to it that they'd be treated well."

"Did you?"

Luciano snorted. "I'm not a saint."

"Did you ever find that Grendel person?"

A slow smile spread across his face. "Oh yes."

Gino shivered. It always feels colder when you're in a room with a sociopath.

"Hey," Luciano said after a while. "Do you know anything about Elevens? As long as we're captured by them, knowing about them might come in handy."

Gino frowned. He knew a lot about Elevens, but he couldn't think of anything useful. "Well, my family used to employ an Eleven as a maid. I always liked her accent, and she taught me a few phrases in Elevenese, or Japanese, I suppose. Aishite imasu is how are you, oyasuminasai is where is the bathroom, and konichiwa means something else, but I forget what. I actually designed my Knightmare after an old TV show that they aired before we conquered them. It was about a bunch of giant robots from another planet who would fight another bunch of giant robots…from another planet…on earth. It made sense when I was seven. Anyway, what do you know about them?"

"Not much," he said.

"Oh, come on," Gino prompted. "You have to know something. When I say Eleven, what's the first thing that pops into your head?"

Luciano remained silent for a moment. "Tentacle porn."

"What?"

"Yeah, haven't you heard of it?" Luciano asked. "You take an octopus, and—"

"No, I know what it is, but seriously? An entire, distinct culture, and that's the first thing you think of?"

"I am not a sophisticated man," he admitted. "But I am—"

"The best at what you do?" Their creepy jailer, Mao, entered the room. "Hardly. Viruses do it better, and they talk less and take up less space. What you are, Lucy, is a child trying to have fun with a broken game. Did you ever get over your stay in Europe, or did Madrid drive you mad? Because ever since you got back, people haven't been people any more, have they? They've been butterflies that you rip the wings off of. How could it not be fun? Rip, rip, it can't fly no more. Bang, bang, it's dead. Are you having fun yet?

"You don't know what you're talking about," Luciano snapped.

Mao removed his visor and leaned in close. There was something off about his eyes. They seemed to glow red, and the pupils were misshapen. "I know exactly what I'm talking about," Mao said. "I may be the only person you ever meet who does. But you, Lucy, you kept on playing the same game, you kept on ripping off wings, because you knew all along that if you didn't, you might start thinking, 'Did he really do it?' Doubt makes the blood bitter, and with your friend's flesh split open and his family name dishonored, the truth is, you never knew for sure. So tell me, Lucy. Are you having fun yet?"

Luciano's eyes were wide, but unfocused. His body trembled, and when he opened his mouth, he could not speak. "Leave him alone!" Gino shouted. "It's easy to talk big from the other side of the iron bars, but what games are _you_ playing, Mao? How many friends do _you_ have?"

Mao turned to him with his red, unnatural eyes, and his face split into a grin. He started laughing and clapping like he was the audience of a grand show. "Bravo," he laughed. _Clap, clap._ "Bravo. You're right, I don't get along with people, but that's not to say that I don't understand them. Of course, understanding them isn't the same thing as agreeing with them, or liking them, or even tolerating them." He turned back to Luciano. "I can't tolerate you at all. Which is why I don't think that anyone here deserves this more than you." He tossed a key into Luciano's cell. It skidded across the floor within reach, and he picked it up with his feet.

"What?" Gino started. "But…you…"

"Before they turned this room into a prison cell, an AC vent came through where that tile is now," Mao said, pointing at the ceiling. "Zero left it as just an empty cover that could double as a secret passage because, well, the guy has trust issues. If you crawl through the vent _that_ way, and then _that_ way, and then _that _way again, you'll find yourself at the hanger where you can steal a Knightmare, fly away, and live happily ever after, until you die."

He turned to Gino. "Your cell, however, doesn't have a secret exit, and I as I am expected to have one prisoner at all times, I decided that I'd rather be able to say that I loosed Luce than that I loosed Gino. Sorry, you just have a lousy name."

Luciano managed to unlock his chains. He jumped up, and knocked free the loose tile. A hungry grin spread across his face. He stopped suddenly, and looked at Mao. "What's the catch?" he asked.

"Catch? There was no catch. You had to pick up the key with your feet."

He glared at him. "You know what I mean. What do you want in return for helping me?"

"Oh, you know, helping people like you is its own reward," Mao replied. "But if you really feel like you need to give me something, then just remember me when you return with your conquering armies, and see to it that I am treated well." With a grin and a wink, he put his visor back on and left.

Luciano stood in the dark cell silently and hesitated, but only for a moment. A caged wolf will not ask questions if he sees an open door; he will run and not look back, and Luciano didn't either. He'd been through this before, and there was no way in heaven, earth, or hell that he would go through it again. In the end, all men are slaves to their desire to be free. He tossed his used key to Gino and pulled himself into the vent.

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Rakshata had a new mass produced model of Knightmare to study, but she didn't care about that. She also had enough float devices to make not only every Knightmare of the Black Knights but also their submarine capable of flight, but she didn't care about that either, although she did wonder briefly what that would be called. A land and water unit was amphibious, but an air and water unit would be what? Duck-like?

Regardless, all of her attention, dreams, and imagination were engulfed by two unique Knightmares, red and white, standing side by side in _perfect_ compatibility. Maybe not on the battlefield, but in design…

She took a long drag from her pipe and trembled slightly. "Okay, I think I feel some grandkids coming along," she said to herself. "Because this is just plain sexy."

The sub was surfaced, so she left the hatch open. The fresh air helped her think better, and what she was thinking could frighten the known world. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she barely noticed a salvaged Vincent being pursued by a Gekka. The Vincent flew out of the hatch where the Gekka couldn't follow, but Rakshata was too busy thinking about new Knightmare designs to notice.

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Kallen sat on top of the submarine near the open hatch. It got pretty stuffy inside, and the cell phone reception was nil. She had a call to make.

"What do you mean, you're kicking her out?" she demanded. She was talking to someone from the hospital where she had left her mother. She was alive, but having a building collapse on you was just unhealthy.

"Again," the secretary said, "our services are reserved for Britannian citizens, not Elevens."

"But I'm Britannian!" she protested. Well, half-Britannian, but she didn't need to mention that.

"Yes, Ms. Stadtfield, and if you were injured, we would be happy to accommodate you, but your servant is another matter. You will need to have someone pick her up by tomorrow. Why don't you just have her moved to an Eleven's hospital?"

"Because that would be murder!" she snapped. While a lot cheaper, Eleven's hospitals were less concerned with curing patients than testing new treatments, and she was pretty sure that Dr. Frankenstein worked there. "If you kick her out, so help me I will hunt you down and murder your family!" She remembered a piece of Britannian diplomacy that Deithard had told her and added, "And if you let her stay, I'll pay you triple, or something."

There was a pause on the other line. "You have until tomorrow."

Kallen hung up the phone in frustration. She felt horrible denying her own mother at a time like this, taking her father's name and calling her a servant, but it would be even worse if that wasn't enough. The Black Knights had a medical facility, but—

A blast of air knocked her backwards as one of the salvaged Britannian Knightmares erupted from the hanger, and gunfire followed it. Apparently some of them were already repaired and they were testing them. Kallen ran inside the submarine, wishing that someone would warn her before they started doing drills like that.

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Luciano couldn't believe his luck. He made it! He was free! It was a close call when an Eleven saw him and nearly killed him on his way out, but what was life without a few thrills?

He glanced back at the diminishing form of the submarine. He could harass it, but if it was in range, than so was he, and he didn't know how many flight-capable Knightmares they had. No, he'd return to the settlement and come back with an army of his own and sink his prison to the bottom of the ocean. Gino was still there, but if he couldn't get out of the submarine by the time it sunk, he deserved to drown.

He radioed the closest military base he could find. "Hello? This is Luciano, Luciano, the Knight of Nine. Do you read me?"

The response was full of static. "Lu—how did you—are you?"

"Listen, I have the coordinates of the enemy base. It is—hello? Can you hear me at all?"

Nothing but static.

Luciano swore inwardly. It was just his luck to get a Knightmare with a faulty radio, but then again, he probably used up all his luck getting one that could actually fly. He'd just have to talk to whoever was in charge in person. The sub would have left before he could get back, but he had nothing against hunting them down. In fact, he preferred it that way.

A military hanger opened up before him. They had probably tried to talk to him, but he couldn't hear a thing, and his Knightmare looked pretty damaged as it was. If he was flying his custom Percival, there wouldn't have been any questions, but as it was, they let him in as long as they could keep several Knightmares with guns leveled at him at all times. But then Luciano opened the hatch of his Knightmare, and the soldiers around him dropped to their knees.

"Sir Luciano!" one of them said in surprise. "You're alive!"

The Vampire of Britannia laughed. He was so giddy, he almost could have started crying. He wasn't just alive; he'd always been alive. Now he was _free._

That was the last thought that went through his head before the flames engulfed him.

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"That was _incredibly_ wasteful."

Mao swiveled around in his swivel chair, his had still holding a detonator. "It's good to see you too. Did you manage to kill off your mother-in-law yet, or is she still in the hospital?"

Zero paused to consider that statement, and dismissed it—incorrectly—as trite and irrelevant. "You killed a valuable hostage today. Knights of the Round are hard to come by."

Mao grinned. Luciano was refreshingly simple, like an animal. The man was so desperate, he didn't even bother to look beyond the first functioning Vincent, which also was the only one that was bugged and had a remote explosive attached. "Well, I don't think your dad's going to have trouble replacing him."

"I had plans for that man," Zero insisted angrily.

"Ooh, plans! How mysterious!" Mao rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know what your plans were, all seventeen of them. Five of them you only need one Round for, and I thoughtfully left you your old high school chum Gino to play with. Two you couldn't do without revealing your ability to control people, which is an ironically fitting Geass for a devoutly hypocritical freedom fighter, by the way. Six of them would have done less damage than blowing up a hangar full of Knightmares, which I pulled off quite smoothly, thank you, and the remaining—how many are left?—four were too risky for you to more than consider."

Zero steamed, and thoughts of general logistics covered up thoughts of viable strategies against his brother which covered up thoughts about his sister which covered up the thought, _He's too dangerous to leave alive. I should have killed him long ago._

"Yep," Mao agreed. "In fact, you should kill me right now. You know, if you were a fast draw."

Zero forced himself to calm down and stopped trying to hide his thoughts in other thoughts. "Why'd you do it?"

"Why?" he repeated. "Why'd you start a war? Life gets boring without people blowing up. If you could predict everything, then why bother to see how it turns out? Anyway, he was expendable, so what are you upset about? Moving on, I'd like a raise."

"A raise?" Zero asked incredulously. "You ask me for that _now_? What do you need money for anyway? "You can just walk into a casino and make money nearly as easily as I can."

"Money? Who said anything about money? I want a Knightmare."

"Then take one!" Zero said in frustration. "If you want to charge into the front lines, then I'd be happy to support any life decision that makes yours shorter."

"Of course, I don't want just any Knightmare. I want the Percival."

"Luciano's Knightmare?"

Mao shrugged. "He won't be needing it, and your scientist is going to be busy with all her other new toys until the end of the war. And besides, if I'm going to charge into the front lines, I'm going to look good doing it."

"Fine. I assume you already pulled out all the necessary piloting information from Luciano before you killed him. Just stop making a nuisance of yourself."

Mao grinned and bowed with a flourish as Zero left, but he didn't make any promises. Where would the fun in that be?

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Finally Lelouch approached the cell of his old friend. He had thought about releasing him sooner, but Suzaku would be crass if a rescue attempt for his beloved princess was not actively underway. He never really understood the concept of timing.

Suzaku's cell was dark and depressing, but that was more out of utility and economy than atmosphere. Zero dismissed the guards. They wouldn't be needed.

Suzaku glared at him. "You really had me going there," he said. "For a while, I really thought you were my friend. To fool a man by lying to him is one thing, but to fool him by telling the truth? Oh, that's smooth."

"I have come to free you," he said. "If you are fit for freedom."

"What do you mean, fit?" Suzaku snapped. "You had no right to lock me up down here in the first place!"

"I have the right, responsibility, and obligation to use whatever tools I have at my disposal."

"Tools? Do those tools extend to people?"

"To an extent. But in my defense, most of my human resources are people who want to be used."

"I never wanted to be used! And would you take your mask off already, Lelouch? It's like I'm talking to a giant, black eyeball."

Leleouch reached up toward a security camera and deactivated it. He removed his mask and held it in the crook of his elbow. "I disagree," he said. "From the time you joined the Britannian military, you have done little besides seek ways to exploit yourself, be it for guilt, duty, or redemption. Love is only one of the latest."

Suzaku paled. "What happened to her? Is she alright?"

"I received notice of her arrest at the end of the battle," Lelouch said. "Apparently the government didn't care about her until after they needed someone to blame for their defeat. A week form now she will be sent to Britannia to be tried for treason."

"Treason? But…Lelouch, we have to do something! _I_ have to do something!"

"What do you intend to do, Suzaku? Break into the Viceroy's Palace in a blaze of glory and rescue her? She's a hostage, Suzaku, and the whole point of having a hostage is to prevent overt tactics."

"A hostage?" Suzaku repeated. "Against me?"

"Against me," Lelouch corrected. "The emperor is not concerned about this world, but I have discovered what does concern him. He knows who I am, and the only reason he has taken Euphie instead of Nunnally is because he does not know that I know. That makes Euphie an _extendable_ hostage, which is even more fragile than the alternative. I do intend to rescue her, but I need you to work with me on this."

"Can I trust you?"

What kind of question was that? Of course Suzaku could trust him, like the way Lelouch could trust the emperor to be antagonistic and Schneizel to be cunning. "Yes."

"I mean it, Lelouch. I want you to _promise_ me that Euphie will be safe."

Lelouch opened his mouth to affirm, but he closed it again. "I'll try."

"That's not good enough!"

"This is a _war,_ Suzaku. People die. I can't save everyone, but I can promise that I will make her safety a priority, second only to Nunnally. Does that satisfy you?"

Suzaku gave him a hard, scrutinizing look, then relented. "Alright. I trust you. For now. So let me out of here already."

Lelouch unlocked the cell and donned his mask. A giant black eyeball? Interesting.

"So what's the plan?" Suzaku asked as they left the prison section.

"First off, I'm going to need you to impersonate Zero," Lelouch said.

"Great. I feel dirty already."

He saw Kallen pass by. She looked at him, then quickly looked away. Something was definitely bothering her. First she was upset because he wasn't fighting, so Zero gave them the greatest victory the Black Knights have ever known. Now she was avoiding him for who knows why, and had…strangled a _prisoner._ This sort of thing could escalate horribly. He'd have to talk to her before the next battle.

"So, did Todoh really offer to kill me?" Suzaku asked.

"Yes, but I wouldn't be too worried about it," Lelouch replied. "Now that you're fighting on the same side, so some warrior's code of honor should prevent you from killing each other until this is over."

"Do you even know about the warrior's code of honor?" Suzaku asked skeptically.

In his experience it was an excuse for rational beings to act otherwise, but the official definition was probably different. "Here we are," Lelouch said, arriving at a small, metal door. "Once we enter this room, you _are_ me, understood?"

"What? No, not understood. Don't I need to change first?"

"That won't be necessary. All you will have to do is stand still with a commanding presence and not talk at all."

The look of shock on Suzaku's face when they entered the room was priceless. Sayoko had returned from her mission a few minutes before and was waiting for them. She had been hesitant at first, but then Zero took his mask off. She was possibly the only person in the world loyal to all three of his personas, and she was the only person he could rely on to complete this mission. After all, he always trusted Sayoko to look after Nunnally before; kidnapping her was no different.

Nunnally sat in her wheelchair, calm and unfrightened. Sayoko stood behind her with an unreadable expression. Suzaku looked at both of them wordlessly and turned to Lelouch. _What?_ he mouthed.

"Yes?" Nunnally inquired, hearing the sound of newcomers. "Who's there?"

Lelouch took off his mask and handed it to Suzaku, knelt down, and took her hand. "Hey, Nunnally."

"Lelouch! Sayoko said that you wanted me to meet you here about something important, but where _is_ here?"

"The short answer is that we're in a submarine. The long answer is that there are things that I should have told you long ago." He took a deep breath. He wouldn't lie to her. That was always unpleasant and ineffective. But he didn't need to tell her everything. "Do you remember Kallen, from the student council? Several months ago, she invited me to join the Black Knights."

Nunnally's eyebrows rose in shock, but her eyes remained shut. "And did you?"

"Yes. They're a pretty bloody group, but I do believe that they are what the world needs right now. I wouldn't have told you about this at all, except that the emperor has found out that we're still alive. Zero knows who we are, too, and has offered his protection." He turned to Suzaku. "Would you like to say anything, sir?" He spoke deferentially, but he gave Suzaku a warning look to remind him to be quiet.

"Wait, Zero's _here_?" She shivered, as though suddenly cold.

_She doesn't even want to be in the same room as Zero,_ Lelouch thought with dismay. _No, I'll never tell her the truth._ "He doesn't really like the members of our family," he explained. "He barely tolerates me as it is. I'll be busy with my responsibilities here, but I'll see you when I can. Sayoko will stay with you and the people won't bother you. It might not be fun, but you'll be safe." And in the end, that was all that mattered.

"Alright," she said. "I trust you."

For some reason, that made him feel a twinge of…guilt, maybe? But he didn't let it show in his voice. "And I will always look after you."

He got up, took his mask back, and left with Suzaku. For a moment neither spoke.

"I know why you showed me that," Suzaku said finally. "And if you need to go out of your way to prove that you're still human, then you need help."

Lelouch stopped and turned to him. "Suzaku, you are a soldier, I am a commander. You cannot possibly understand the position that I'm in. If I do nothing, a thousand people die. If I act, a different thousand die. Either way I drown in blood. Finding hope in this world is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and I'm looking for it by burning the haystack to the ground. Humanity is a _luxury_, Suzaku, and I will either enjoy it after I win, or die knowing that I gave this fight everything I am."

Suzaku looked away eventually. "Fine. So are we going to rescue Euphemia any time soon? You did promise that we would."

"Yes, I will do that right now, but I'll need you to settle your differences with Todoh."

Suzaku winced. "Is that really necessary?"

"You will be fighting alongside each other, possibly very soon. I cannot afford either of you to be a liability."

Suzaku sighed and walked off in a different direction to find his old teacher. Zero saw Kallen and called her over.

"I saw your sister a little while ago," Kallen noted.

"She'll be staying here for a while," he said. "I'll not have her exposed at a time like this. I'll need you to accompany me for the moment. There is a prisoner I am about to unleash, and I fear she may be vexed by her extended stay."

"Oh," Kallen said, understanding. "That one."

The submarine had several prisons, but none of them were very big. Most of them were spare rooms for storage that had been modified with iron bars and security cameras. That suited Zero perfectly. Putting all of the prisoners in one room together where they could work together and discuss escape plans seemed foolish. Of course, they never had that many prisoners, and few of them stayed long.

Cornelia was the exception. She had been a captive of the Black Knights since the Battle of Narita. Zero had had to poison Suzaku and dig up his dead father—metaphorically—but it paid off. In her cell, the Second Princess of Britannia glared at them. She had a certain savage majesty, shown by her love of battle and disdain for frivolity, that her stay in prison had done nothing to diminish.

"You," she growled. She managed to put an impressive amount of hatred and contempt into a single word. "I was beginning to think that you had forgotten about me. It's been months since I've been I've seen anyone besides that wretched Chinaman."

"Yes, I regret that I've been a poor host," Zero replied. "And, as much as I have enjoyed your company, I also regret that your stay has come to an end." He unlocked her cell door and opened it.

She eyed the open door suspiciously. "What is this?"

"An exit," Zero explained. "You're welcome to stay if you wish, but I imagine that your obligations have piled up tremendously since you left." He turned and walked away, assuming that she'd follow her.

She did. She was already captured, so she had nothing to lose, and an open door was not an opportunity to be turned down. Kallen took her place behind her. As they walked down the hallway, Zero could feel Cornelia's eyes burning into his back, debating whether she could snap his neck before someone stopped her. But all the while, there was Kallen behind her, watching her with equal intensity.

"Is she supposed to intimidate me?" Cornelia asked, indicating Kallen.

"No, I'm supposed to make sure you don't try anything stupid," Kallen replied. "Though if I were supposed to intimidate you, I'd bring up Narita and tell you that I was piloting the Knightmare that tore yours apart, limb from limb."

Cornelia looked at her over her shoulder. "That was you?"

Kallen grinned. "Any time you want a rematch, Princess, I'm game."

Cornelia scowled and started to ignore Kallen so pointedly that she might as well have been gawking at her. "How dumb do you think I am, anyway?" she asked after a while.

"What do you mean?" Zero replied. "You're actually one of the top ten smartest people I know. Possibly one of the top five."

"Yeah, right. I bet you're just releasing me because you know that I'll come back with an army to take you down, and you'll position your forces just right to ambush us. But no, now that I've said that, you'll know that I'll be attacking wherever you'll ambush us from, and ambush us from there. A trap for a trap for a trap, and from there it only gets more complicated."

"Are you sure about that?" Zero asked. "I find that the simplest plans are often the best. For example, I could withdraw my forces entirely, and when you come back with your army, I could invade an undefended settlement. Or perhaps I have had you injected with a genetically engineered virus and I'm using you to infect the populous. Biological warfare has been silent recently. Or maybe I'm just desperate to throw my enemies off balance and I'm doing what they least expect."

They approached the hanger where Rakshata was working with some of the salvaged enemy Knightmares.

"Hey, Zero. What brings…" Rakshata's voice trailed off when she saw Cornelia.

"Rakshata. I'll need a functional Knightmare, preferably a Vincent that isn't too heavily damaged."

The scientist frowned and pointed out one of her subjects. "That one's float system is perfectly operational, but its weapons are offline."

Zero hesitated. "Which one is most nearly battle ready?" he asked. Cornelia raised an eyebrow.

Rakshata puffed on her pipe for a moment. "That one," she said finally. "Its left arm is fairly damaged and its right leg is gone entirely, but since it can fly, that doesn't mean much."

"Perfect," Zero said. Rakshata handed him the ignition key, which he gave to Cornelia.

"Fly?" she asked.

"There have been several technological advancements since Narita," Zero explained. "I'm sure you'll grow accustomed to them. Also, we are surfaced at the moment, and will remain so at this spot for the next several days."

"Sure you will," she snorted, climbing into the Vincent.

"It may also interest you to know that Euphemia has been arrested."

Cornelia stopped. "What?"

"Yes. She succeeded you as Viceroy and performed admirably for a time, but then the emperor sent an army led by his personal knights to attack some unarmed civilians. She sent her own knight to intervene, and has been arrested for treason. A week from now she will be sent to Britannia and will be at the emperor's…" He chuckled slightly. "…mercy."

Cornelia's face paled, then reddened with anger. "And you're releasing me _now_, of all times, because, because you _know_ that I'll have no choice but to…but to…you son of a—"

"It has been a pleasure talking with you."

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Zero walked back to his office with Kallen following him. She deliberately didn't glare at him, or look at him judgmentally, and she made a special effort not to analyze his motives.

"What is it?" Zero said finally. "For months you were ill content because I wasn't as aggressive as you wanted me to be, and while I didn't kill several hundred people just to make you happy, I wouldn't be upset if it did."

Kallen looked down, and for a moment Lelouch thought she was ashamed of something. "The Gefjun Disturbers. They were put into position weeks before the battle."

The door was closed, so he took off his mask and set it on his desk. "They could have been conveniently left over from the testing process."

"Were they?"

"No," he said honestly.

"So you knew the Britannians were going to attack Utopia."

_Ah. So that's what this is about._ "Well, there's the dilemma. I suspected that Utopia might be at risk, so I could prepare for an eventual assault, but what would have happened if I told the people to leave? I stand in the way of the emperor's Armageddon project, and he would draw me back into the war in one way or another. If I warned the people of Utopia, then he'd have attacked somewhere else, and the only people at risk would have been the ones who listened to me. Do you see the paradox?"

"A lot of people died there," Kallen said coldly.

That was the commander's curse. The warrior was responsible for those he killed, but the commander was accountable for all who died. "And they will be avenged," he said. He could do no more, and he could promise no less.

"Of course," she continued, "public support has never been so high for us. Plenty of the more docile Japanese thought Euphemia was pretty great, and Deithard said that even they are disgusted."

Lelouch hesitated. Usually Kallen didn't care about the political connotations of events, and there was something bitter in her tone. "I suppose," he said tentatively.

"And you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs." Now she was blatantly sarcastic.

"That's not an analogy I'm fond of…"

"My _mother_ was in there!" Kallen exploded, and the room fell silent.

"Your…" he started. "I thought…" He saw a sudden image of Shirley at her father's funeral. He had managed to save Shirley, and replaced her with…what was it that he told Kallen afterwards? He had said something about how if they gave up, then the deaths of all who had fallen along the way would lose all meaning. Now it seemed like a profoundly trite flower to place on someone's grave. "I can't save everyone," he said instead. _I pray I can save someone._

"She's not dead, by the way." Lelouch looked up. "Though it means a lot that you cared to ask. Having a house fall on you isn't that healthy and she's being kicked out of the hospital sometime later, but other than that she's fine."

Lelouch looked up. "If she's still alive, what are you upset about?" he asked with frustration.

"What am _I _upset about? Tell me something, Lelouch. You let a few hundred people die to give us a good image. I don't know if that was a good idea strategically or how avoidable it was, but what about your 'Heroes of Justice' spiel? How much of that was propaganda? Are you fighting Britannia to protect the weak, or do you just want to put someone else on top?"

Zero stood up in anger. "How dare you! This is a war, Kallen. I'm sorry for the people who died in Utopia, and I'm sorry for what happened to your mother, but people have died, and will die, whether for my purpose or for my enemies."

"It shouldn't have to be that way," Kallen growled. "People shouldn't have to die for someone else's dreams."

"No," Lelouch agreed, "but I doubt that the world will comply to your abstract sense of morality any more than it does to my abstract sense of justice."

"So that's it?" Kallen asked. "We play by their rules with their tactics? You know what? Maybe it's better for Britannia to win if it keeps us from becoming like them."

Lelouch sat down. His anger had passed, and now he felt only tired. "I change what I can. I endure what I cannot. I advise you to do the same."

Kallen studied him for a moment, then turned and left.

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a/n Man, Lelouch is having it rough this chapter. All his friends suddenly hate him. Oh well, I'm sure that his dog still loves him, and besides, half of what people say when they're angry, they don't really mean, and it will get lighter in the next chapter. Trust me. I can practically see the future with this sort of thing.

I'm sorry for the delay. I hit writer's block so hard, I started cheating at free cell. I have a winning streak of over three hundred, and I'm not the least bit proud of that. I also watched Wakfu, which I would highly recommend. It has been called the coolest thing out of France since Napoleon, but I disagree. I say that it's the coolest thing out of France since toast. Now that my moment of shameless advertising is over, there was something else I wanted to say. I can't remember what it was. Oh well, if it was important, I'm sure it will come back to me.

Oh yeah. In the millatary history class I took a few years ago, two of the people we studied were Genghis Kahn and Hannibal. The part about getting infiltrated by elephants is a quote from one of my English teachers about a bunch of elephants who broke into a brewery in India and managed to get drunk on stolen liquor. I guess the local security system was aimed at someone else. Also, some people have mentioned that my characters are out of character and that I'm not delivering on the promised pairings. Both are true. On the OOC account, I have taken a few creative liberties in order to write them better. All the characters are myself in one form or another, and if I tried to make them clones of their anime selves, then they wouldn't be able to cope with out-of-canon circumstances. Also, the anime is in Japanese, and there are many ways to translate the show into English. If you translate it word for word, then you'll miss the ideas, and if you translate it by the ideas, you'll miss the horrible puns, so you can't say that so and so would never say something like that, because in a way, he already did. Yes, I know that's a terrible rationalization, but it's mine, and I'm sticking with it. The lack of romance is entirely my fault. I've always wanted to be able to write good romance, but I am incredibly cynical and whenever I try, I feel like I'm making fun of the characters. My friends all tell me that they'd like to see me try to write romance in the same way they'd like to see me use bear spray, which is nature's version of ding-dong-ditch. Regardless, there will be more romance in later chapters, and it will be the worst romance you have ever read. I guarantee it.

Also, before anyone tries to translate it, Gino's Japanese is a little rusty, so there are bound to be some errors. They are intentional.


	4. Chapter 4

Risks and Sacrifices

Chapter 4

a/n I heard that Japanese has the same word for four and death. Guess who dies this chapter.

Milly tapped her fingers on a desk in the student council room thoughtfully. "There are only four of us left," she said dramatically. Shirley, Nina, Rivalz, and herself. "I wonder who they're going to take next."

Shirley looked up. "Who's who?"

"Well, Lelouch, Kallen, and Suzaku all went missing at once," Milly said. "You don't think that's suspicious?"

Shirley shook her head. "Why would it be? Lelouch had a family thing, Kallen got sick again, and Suzaku..." When they celebrated their friend's knighthood, none of them thought that path would lead him to treason.

Suzaku's disappearance wasn't a mystery, and Kallen getting sick was nothing new. She was always sick, and barely got to school enough to pass. Lelouch, though, there was something up with him. He claimed that he was attending a relative's funeral, but Milly was one of the only people who knew about his family, and he wouldn't visit a relative's grave except to dance on it.

"No, there has to be more to the story than that," Milly said. It was so _boring_ with only half the club. Milly didn't work well with boring. "Suzaku is one thing, but Lelouch and Kallen? Both stop coming to school? At _exactly_ the same time?"

Shirley's eyes widened, and even Nina looked up from her recreational textbook reading. "But, Lelouch...he wouldn't," Shirley started. She sounded desperate, almost.

"Exactly," Rivalz said. "Even if they did get together, Kallen can't be so high maintenance that he'd have to stop coming to school."

Shirley winced. "Rivalz!"

He put an innocent expression on his face. "What? Oh, sorry. Did I say get together? I meant started dating, got busy, eloped—ow! You kicked me!"

"And I won't apologize," Shirley said. She opened her cell phone. "I'm going to call him."

"By all means, take the easy solution," Milly sighed.

She dialed and waited, then she frowned. "That's odd."

"He didn't answer?" Milly asked.

Rivalz grinned. "I'm not going to say it, but..."

"There's no connection," Shirley replied, ignoring him. "He must be out of range or something." She looked up at Milly. "Where could he be where he's out of range?"

"Uh...Nina?"

"Hm?" Nina looked up from a book she was reading and blinked, as though surprised to see people in the room. "Oh, right. Cell phones operate by transmitting electromagnetic waves of about eight hundred to twenty four hundred megahertz and have a wavelength ranging from—"

"Yes, yes, could you skip to the part that's in English?"

"Uh, right. Um, the wave could be blocked by a sealed container like a submarine, and a cave would work as well."

"How about a spaceship?" Rivalz asked eagerly.

"I suppose..."

"That's it!" he said triumphantly. "Aliens!" His statement was met with blank looks. "What? Any phenomenon can be explained by aliens."

"He could have just turned his phone off," Nina suggested.

Milly gave her a flat stare. "Now that's just crazy talk."

"Wait, you mentioned caves," Shirley said. "What if he's lost in a cave?"

"What would he be doing in a cave?" Milly asked.

Shirley shrugged. "Spelunking?"

Rivalz laughed. "Can you imagine Lelouch spelunking? He can barely handle stairs."

"Okay," Milly said. "So we've narrowed his disappearance down to aliens, the Underground City of the Mole People, and—you mentioned subs, right? So Atlantis."

"And he's only been gone a week," Rivalz said approvingly. "Man, when he gets around he gets around."

"Aren't you extrapolating a lot from a bit of bad reception?" Nina asked.

"You're right," Milly admitted. "We need more facts." A slow smile crept across her face. It didn't matter what they were doing, let alone why. What mattered was that they were doing it together. There wasn't much point in a club otherwise. "Who wants to raid his house?"

WWW

Earlier that day, the Britannian military welcomed back Luciano, Knight of the Rounds, pronounced missing in action after the battle of Utopia. The resulting explosion had destroyed an entire hanger. When Princess Cornelia li Britannia, missing in action since the battle of Narita, returned in a damaged Vincent, the welcoming committee kept a safe distance. All except Guilford.

That wasn't to say that he wasn't afraid. When she was captured, Princess Cornelia gave him a final order that he took as her dying wish. Protect Euphemia, who lay incarcerated, awaiting trial and execution. From where he stood, an instantaneous death in a fiery inferno was the last thing he was afraid of.

The first thing he was afraid of opened the Knightmare's hatch and stepped out. Guilford knelt down quickly out of respect and dread. Princess Cornelia stopped in front of him. "The floor that interesting?" she asked curtly. "Get up. I've wasted too much time to stand on ceremony."

He stood up quickly. He knew he was supposed to say something. "Welcome back."

"I see I have been dearly missed," she said, scanning the soldiers standing at attention. "And I thought they were sloppy when they were expecting me." Her months in captivity had not been kind to her, but she was not some delicate flower to wilt from lack of sunlight. She was a Britannian princess, the Emperor's daughter, with the ferocious beauty of an arctic wolf.

"Is there anything you require?" Guilford said, following her as she marched into the viceroy's palace.

"Plenty," she said. "A hot bath, a hot meal, a few things I've gone without for far too long. But that's not your job. That's...his." She pointed at a random man in a clean, silk uniform and an ornamental spear.

"Your...Highness?" the man said nervously. Guilford repeated her orders. "But...I'm a guard, not a—"

"No, you're scenery," Cornelia corrected. "And you've just been promoted to something useful."

"Yes, your Highness."

"Honestly, I go away for a few months, and this place starts looking like it got vomited out of a toilet. Who's the twit in charge these days anyway?"

"That would be your brother, your Highness, Prince Schneizel."

"Oh? So they're finally taking this seriously. I'll be meeting with him at—what time is it?—two o'clock."

"Yes, your Highness." Guilford took a deep breath. She'd find out about it eventually. "I have to tell you, your sister..."

"Euphemia? I heard they made a scapegoat out of her," she said calmly.

"You...you knew?"

She rolled her eyes. "I wasn't living in a cage. I was a prisoner of war, and considering how I was captured by the side that has actual plans, I probably know more about what's going on than you do. Though out of all the people they could pin this on, making Euphie a scapegoat isn't just desperate, it's _stupid_!" She shook her head. "I guess that's just something else I have to deal with."

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"You know, I've noticed that a lot of your ideas don't seem..." Rivalz searched for the right word. "...legal."

Rivalz, Shirley, and Milly stood in front of Lelouch's house. Nina had stayed behind. She didn't say that their plan was stupid and crazy—they already knew that. However, she insisted that she didn't _want_ to be part of a plan that was stupid and crazy, and anyway, she had found a humorously outdated article that magnificently failed to describe the wave-particle duality of light, so, you know.

They didn't, but they didn't expect to. They had a friend's house to break into. "Yeah, so?" Milly asked.

"Rivalz's right," Shirley said. "I don't feel comfortable doing this in broad daylight."

Milly sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. "You're right. We could come back in the dead of night in black clothes and ski masks. That would be so much less conspicuous than unlocking the front door."

"You have a key?"

"Of course," she said, unlocking the door and opening it. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I...I don't have an answer to that," Rivalz replied. "But what about his Eleven maid, whatsername..."

"Sayoko?" Milly replied.

"...sure."

"I figure that he brought her with him."

"In a suitcase?"

"She's pretty flexible," Milly shrugged.

"Yeah, but she is an Eleven, and there is a war going on. Between racial profiling and airport security, you know..."

Milly frowned thoughtfully. "Okay, if we see her, we'll just say that we're here to pick up something that I left in Lelouch's bedroom."

Shirley looked up suddenly. "What? Why you?"

"Do you think it will be more believable if we say it was you in his bedroom?" Milly smirked. "Well, maybe..."

Shirley blushed more brightly than her hair. "What? No, I didn't—I mean, I..."

"Or we could say it was Rivalz."

"Hey! Those rumors are false, and I will refute them until they die!"

"Fine, let's not get our story straight," Milly suggested. "I'm sure we can make something up on the spot. What could possibly go wrong?" She walked in through the door and stopped dead. Couches were turned over, cabinet doors were thrown open, and books were strewn across the floor. "What the heck happened here?"

"Maybe he's remodeling?" Rivalz suggested hopefully. "I mean, if he was going out of town anyway..."

"It looks like he was robbed!" Shirley said. "We should call the cops."

"Sure, on our way out," Milly said.

"But what if the robber's still here?"

"Oh, stop being ridiculous," Milly said. "What kind of person would break into someone's house in broad daylight?"

"You know," Rivalz said after a moment, "I don't think I've ever mentioned this, but you are an abject failure at reassuring people."

"You were supposed to say, 'someone who has nothing to fear from the law,'" Milly pointed out. "But just to make you feel better..." She pulled out her cell phone. "Hey, Nina, how're you doing? Uh-huh, yeah, fascinating. Look, could you do me a favor? We may or may not be marching to our deaths right now—ha ha, no, but Shirley is kind of nervous, and Rivalz is, you know, Rivalz—"

"Hey!"

"So would you mind leaving your phone on to record what could be our last moments? And if you could call the police if you hear anything particularly fatal. Oh, you know, gunfire, screaming, that sort of thing. Okay, thanks. Goodbye!" She hung up and looked at Rivalz. "There. Feel better now?"

"No," he said flatly. "No I don't."

"Well, you're just unappeasable. Come on, if we split up we can cover more ground." Rivalz and Shirley looked at her incredulously. "I was _joking_, I was just...really. Anyway, let's start in his bedroom, and if we don't find anything interesting, we can go on from there."

"Right," Shirley said. "What sort of stuff are we looking for?"

"Oh, you know, anything he wouldn't want us to find. A private diary, a secret porn stash..."

"You know, I don't think he has one of those," Rivalz said.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Milly said. "Everyone has a secret porn stash."

Shirley looked at her. "Really?"

"What? No, not like that, I mean, _guys _do, but...you know what I mean."

"Milly?" Rivalz asked suspiciously. "Is there anything you'd like to tell us?"

"No! I mean, yes. Don't you think it's odd that someone ransacked Lelouch's house without stealing anything?"

"I think you're trying to change the subject."

"No, really. The television's right there, and the thief goes for the bookcase. You can't say that's not odd."

"You're right," Shirley agreed. "It's like they were looking for a secret passageway or something." She almost laughed, then stopped. "There aren't any, are there?"

Rivalz grinned. "If we pull a switch and find out that Lelouch has a creepy, secret, underground sex dungeon, I am so taking pictures and blackmailing the pants off that guy when he comes back." Milly almost managed to stifle her laughter. "That came out wrong."

"Just a little. When we get back, we're going to find out that Nina is recording the whole..." She stopped in mid sentence. In Lelouch's bedroom, a woman stared at them like a startled cat. She had dark skin and long, silver hair, but they were paying more attention to the gun she pointed at them.

The three student council members froze in shock until Rivalz broke the silence. "Sayoko," he said. "What happened to you?"

WWW

Meanwhile, Lelouch and Kallen were enjoying a trip to the hospital. "You know," Kallen said, "you don't really have to do this."

"I know exactly what I have to do," he said calmly. "And I will do it."

Kallen looked at him. "You make threats at the oddest times, you know that?"

"How was that a threat?"

"You said it threateningly."

"That just how I talk."

"Then you talk threateningly. Anyway, I'm sorry I yelled at you the other day. I was just, you know, upset."

"She's your family," Lelouch said. "Blood gets under your skin."

"Yeah, but I don't know what you plan on doing. The docs seemed pretty adamant about hospital policy."

"Is that so?"

"I mean, I tried threatening them, and I got nothing."

Lelouch smirked. "You threatened someone over the phone? You can't do anything over the phone, unless you were threatening to call them back."

"So is that why you came in person? It's not that I don't appreciate this, but I'd rather you not jeopardize, you know..."

Lelouch smiled hollowly. "Kallen, I assure you, if I were to risk the mission, the war, and the world as we know it, I would not do it for your mother."

"...thanks," _jerk._

"I'll just have a talk with whoever's in charge and see if we can't come to some arrangement."

"You think that will work?"

"I'm good with people."

"You're good with pawns," she corrected.

"That's all some people aspire to. Consider this part of the Black Knights' health plan."

Kallen looked around, but no one seemed to hear them. "I didn't know we had a health plan."

"Well, we are a terrorist organization. We're entitled to a few secrets."

"So what is this health plan, anyway?"

"Let me put it this way. Your mother is about to be expelled from the hospital because she is Japanese. Some Japanese individuals have become convinced that they are inferior, and have accepted subservient roles in society. Others believe that there is a hidden nobility in their blood, and that secret strength will allow them to triumph over the numerical and technological advantages of their enemies. That assumption is false. There is really nothing special about any of us."

Kallen cocked an eyebrow. "Huh. Well, if I wanted an idealistic perspective, I would have gone to someone in a cape."

Lelouch frowned, but that wasn't a question so he didn't answer it. They stepped into an elevator, and his phone rang. "Hey, Rivalz, how...what? I'm in the Britannian mainland. I told you before I left, there was a family thing. I'm sure I...wait, did you make a bet on that? Why? For the love of—Rivalz, there's no empirical evidence that aliens even exist."

Kallen mouthed the word "what" to him. Lelouch shrugged.

"No, of course not," he continued. "Really, what reason would I have to bring Kallen with me to a funeral? Wow, that's, that's actually pretty disturbing. I wish I didn't ask you that. Who came up with these ideas anyway? Huh. Typical. Well, tell her I said hi and that she needs to mind her own business. Oh! Hello, Milly. Rivalz, in the future, let me know when I am on speaker phone."

Kallen put a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter.

"So what is this about, anyway? Really? When? Oh, you must have called me while I was on the plane. They ask you to turn off your phones while the plane is...the Pacific Ocean is pretty big, you know. It was a long flight. Wait, you what? Someone _what_? Hold on, you're telling me that you broke into my house...you call it what you want, I'll call it what I want. You broke into my house, and found someone else already in the process of breaking into my house. What the heck? What were the police doing in my house in the first place? Uh-huh, go on. Okay, so one woman, devoid of uniform, identification, or search warrant, claims that the government sent her to ransack my home while I'm gone, and you see nothing suspicious about that at all? Oh, well a loaded gun absolves her from all suspicion. Did you at least get her name? Cassandra Casanova?"

Lelouch frowned. Where had he heard that name before? It was...Guilford and Villetta wanted to know C.C.'s real name, so he made one up for her. Cassandra Casanova was the first name he came up with that matched her initials, but C.C. had no reason to search his house. So that meant...

"Rivalz, this Cassandra person, she didn't happen to have silver hair, dark skin, and the heart of a snake, did she? Ah, that explains it. She's no one, she's...a, uh, an ex girlfriend. No, I _don't_ like older women. She is the reason _why_ I don't like older women. She's insane, and dangerous, and I would be more than happy to set you up with her when I get back. No, not really. I care too much about the services you provide me to risk your life like that. So what did she want, anyway? She said that? She told you I was Zero?"

Kallen's eyes widened, but Lelouch just laughed.

"That is so like her really. Did she have any evidence, or was she just going on wild conspiracy theories? Yeah? Go on. Huh. So basically, she's saying that Zero has magic voodoo powers, and I have magic voodoo powers, so we are clearly the same man. Well, I'm just glad no one was hurt, but I'll be installing a lethal home security system when I get back, so if you break into my house again, someone will be. Alright, I'll send you a postcard. Bye."

"So, who's this Cassandra person?" Kallen asked suspiciously. "And don't say an ex girlfriend. If that were the truth, you would have told them something else."

"Villetta Nu," Lelouch explained. "She's a power hungry Britannian with her heart set on joining the nobility, which her superiors are withholding from her, I believe, because of her dangerous competence. She used to work with Orange before he joined us, and afterwards she started working with Cornelia's knight, Guilford. He decided that I was a dead end, so she now seems to be working alone."

"Just how dangerous is she?"

Lelouch shrugged. "She has a hunch, but no proof to back it up. I suspect that the emperor already knows who I am, so what she knows doesn't matter anyway. In any event, Zero is becoming a full time persona for me, and the Ashford Academy student isn't someone I can go back to being."

"Until the war is over," Kallen added.

Lelouch hesitated a moment too long before answering. "Yes. Of course."

Kallen looked at him. "You don't sound that enthusiastic."

"It's not that, it's...imagine toppling an empire that has spread over half the planet, and then going home to get your high school diploma. Don't you think that seems anticlimactic?"

"I'm okay with anticlimax."

"Of course you are," Lelouch said softly. "You're you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing. It's just that..." When your greatest skill is war, what happens when the war ends? "Sometimes I'm worried that I will not be able to handle victory as well as I handle defeat."

"That's _ridiculous_!" she said. "You don't 'handle victory,' you bask in it. And unless you plan on dying heroically in battle, then of _course_—"

"How high is this hospital again? I feel like we've been in this elevator forever."

"Oh," Kallen said. She pushed a button, and the elevator started moving. "When your phone rang, I figured you didn't want to be interrupted, so, yeah."

"I thought that we were moving awfully smoothly."

"Yeah, so, anyway. What was I...hold on." Kallen pulled out her own cell phone, which was buzzing cheerfully. "It's Shirley. Do you think they broke into my house too?" She answered it. "Hello? Hey, Shirley, it's good to hear from you."

Lelouch watched her curiously. Her voice had grown suddenly weak, almost a groan, her eyelids drooped, and her posture fell. She didn't wear a mask like he did, but she got by without one.

"Yeah, I got a bug or something," Kallen continued. "I know, right? And right before finals, too. I really hate my life sometimes. Aw, that's sweet, but you don't have to do anything. Besides, I'm allergic. All kinds of flowers, actually, pollen in general. Don't worry about it, I've gone through this a hundred times before. I'll play computer games when I get tired of sleeping, and in a week or two I'll have a pile of homework to catch up on, ad infinitum. You know what? I really don't know. It sounds Latin, though. I'm in the hospital right now, actually. I'm sure the doctor will prescribe something foul. He always does."

The elevator door opened and they walked out. "Anyway, I have to go now. Thanks for calling. I'll let you know how things turn out. Okay, bye." She hung up the phone. "You know something?" she asked, vitality returning to her person. "Shirley is a really nice girl."

"How'd you get through that so quickly?" Lelouch asked. "Rivalz would never shut up."

"Hey, I'm sick. Be nice to me." Lelouch rolled his eyes and she laughed. "Anyway, my mom's room is at the end of the hall, but before we get there, my mom is sort of, well, how do I put this..."

"A recovering Refrain addict, whose symptoms may include hallucinations, dementia, and short term memory loss," he said. "Don't worry. I'm nice to sick people."

"That's actually kind of creepy," Kallen said. "But knowing you, you probably know everything down to my own blood type."

"Well, of course. That's just basic medical information, and if I needed an emergency blood transfusion, I'd like to know what my options are, and no, you're not one of them."

"Glad I'm not," she muttered, opening the door to her mother's hospital room. "Hey, Mom. You awake?"

"Kallen! It's so good to see you!"

"Oh, this is Lelouch, a friend of mine."

"Friend?" Lelouch repeated. "That's not what you called me yesterday."

"Ha, ha, that's great (shut up). So, how's your stay been?"

"Oh, it's been fine. Long, but there's nothing to complain about. Are you doing well in school? How are your classes going?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Finals are coming up, and my next few weeks are going to be full of Knightmares."

Lelouch sat down on a chair a few feet away from them. He wasn't part of their family and it wasn't his place to intrude. Ms. Kouzuki had a house collapse on her, and it was unclear whether she would ever walk again. She certainly wouldn't without medical attention, and the hospital was more than willing to throw her out.

Something about the whole situation galled him, and it wasn't just the blatant injustice. He was used to that. Without artificial constructs like morality or hope, men were naught but beasts. No, but maybe it was the way her tragic smile taunted fate, or the way she could witness carnage without being tainted by it. Her daughter had that too, actually. Or maybe it was Kallen, and the way she had a sibling and a mother, one killed and one crippled.

A man in a white coat entered the room holding a clipboard. Lelouch noticed that while he had been waiting, he had been absentmindedly folding an origami crane. "You are Kallen Stadtfeld, I assume?"

"Basically."

"Good," the man said. "Upon the removal of the, uh, patient, there are some papers that you will need to fill out, so I'll just leave those here, and..."

Lelouch stood up and set the crane on a table. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. Could we step outside for a moment?"

"Um, okay, but there's really not a whole lot to discuss."

"Humor me." The two of them left the room and Lelouch shut the door behind them. He put his hand to his left eye, stretched the lid back, and plucked out the contact that shielded his Geass. On a strictly physical level, he felt no different, but just knowing that the terrible power he held, that he could barely even control, was suddenly unleashed, it felt like he was being brought back from the dead. "I, Lelouch vi Britannia, command you..."

The man, who had started out confused, then afraid, became utterly at peace. But why wouldn't he? Life was a tempest of confusion when he didn't know his purpose in life, and suddenly, he knew his. It was to obey.

WWW

Schneizel looked up from his desk as Cornelia entered the room. And precisely on time, as well, showing that she was neither anxious nor rude. Or perhaps it was just military promptness. She was the type to lead by example, but a part of that was her enjoyment in getting her hands dirty.

"Cornelia, my dear sister. I cannot say how glad I am to see you returned safely."

"By the time we're done, you'll wish the Black Knights had managed to keep me," she said curtly. By now she would already have known about Euphemia's arrest, and would be coming up with or implementing a plan to rescue her. Most of those plans would get both of them killed. Schneizel hoped she could recognize them. "So are you responsible for this colossal screw up, or are you just the cleanup crew?"

"I assure you my role here is purely janitorial. Is the screw up in question concerning the disgruntled Elevens, the rising threat of the Black Knights, or Euphemia?"

"Is there really a separation?" Cornelia asked. "The Elevens got ticked off, making the Black Knights more powerful, and someone got the idea to pin it all on some stupid little girl instead of solving anything. So, Prince Janitor, how do you plan on cleaning it up?"

"The Elevens and the Black Knights are hardly novel threats. Euphemia, however, well, no one wants to see her executed for treason. I'll be representing her at her hearing, and hopefully we'll be able to come to an arrangement."

"You're her lawyer? Wow, you really do care."

"Advocate, if it's all the same to you," Schneizel replied, a tinge of frustration creeping into his voice.

"And as her advocate, how long could you delay her hearing?"

"As long as our father takes no personal hand in matters, several years."

"Because, I was thinking. Euphemia could pull off being a martyr, but as a scapegoat, she leaves something to be desired."

"A corrupt, tarnished soul?"

"Exactly. Now, if someone like Zero were to present himself..."

Schneizel frowned thoughtfully, then he motioned Kanon and the guards to leave the room. "Euphemia still ordered her knight to attack Britannian forces."

"I'm a bit behind on current events," Cornelia said. "Who's her knight again?"

"She picked Suzaku Kururugi, in the end. You two have met, I believe."

"Suzaku? But he's an Eleven!"

"It wasn't the least controversial decision she has made."

"Well clearly the man was acting on his own, and even if Euphemia felt responsible for the actions of her errant knight, she really had nothing to do with his crimes."

"Perhaps," Schneizel mused. "Or perhaps she sent him to gain the trust of the Black Knights. Sir Suzaku, you see, is a double agent working to take them down from the inside."

Cornelia frowned. "That seems a bit convoluted. Do you think you can convince anyone to believe that?"

Schneizel smiled. "I don't mean to brag, but I have convinced several otherwise intelligent people that they don't exist."

"Fair enough. I actually have evidence to back up that story. It was Suzaku who helped me escape from the Black Knights in the first place. I wouldn't have made it far without him. He was very knightly and chivalrous and all that."

"Indeed!" Schneizel said cheerfully. "It was very clever of Euphemia to put that all together."

"She's the pride of the royal family," Cornelia agreed.

"Of course, if you offer your testimony now, it would break Suzaku's cover. After we tear the Black Knights down to the last man, you'll be able to absolve both of them."

"I'll be looking forward to it," she said, turning on her heel. "Let me know when it's time to plan our next move."

Schneizel leaned back in his chair thoughtfully after she left. He'd like to believe that Cornelia's escape was a fortunate coincidence, if he were the sort of man to believe in coincidences. Regardless, now that she was back, she would do whatever she could to protect Euphemia. The cold-hearted children of the Emperor fought fiercely for the remnants of their humanity. Schneizel could speculate the probabilities all day, but the possibilities were limited. Cornelia would free her sister legally or break her out of prison and run. When and where were anyone's guess. Schneizel hoped that she wouldn't do anything foolish, but he could stop her from running if he wanted to. On the other hand, if she did run, did he really want to stop her?

WWW

It took Lelouch a while to meet with everyone in the hospital he needed to, but he needed to be thorough. "Hey, Kallen. It's time to go. The sub's twenty minutes away and I'm expecting a battle in half an hour."

She quickly fell into step next to him. "So the weirdest thing happened. Right after you left, some people came by with a basket of fruit and offered to move my mother from her room to a private floor."

"You don't say. How nice of them."

"Right," Kallen said, hitting the button for the elevator. "So, what? Did you make them an offer they couldn't refuse?"

"Something like that, yes."

"But the money can't be traced back to us, right? Because..."

"There is no money to be traced."

"But if you didn't bribe them, and you didn't threaten them, then..."

"I told them that your mother was a Britannian empress." Lelouch stepped into the elevater and they started to descend.

Kallen looked at him skeptically. "And they believed you."

"I'm a pretty good liar."

"Yeah, but...you know what, don't tell me. I probably don't want to know. But thanks for doing...whatever you did." Part of her was convinced that he had alternative motives for helping her of some kind, but what reason did she have to be so cynical of him? "Also, my mom really liked the crane you left her. How long have you been into origami?"

"A while. Are you familiar with the story of the thousand cranes?"

Kallen made a face. "The one where if you fold a thousand of them you get a wish? As if it were that easy. I stopped believing in fairy tales when they blew up in my face."

"Of course not. No one believes in anything anymore."

"I didn't say that.

"But if you did," Lelouch said as though he didn't hear her, "what would you wish for?"

"One wish?" Kallen said. "Well, winning would be nice."

"As far as hollow victories go, winning for its own sake defines it well," he said. "I'm sure you can dream bigger."

Kallen scowled. "Fine. You want a straight answer? I started fighting for revenge for what the Britannians did. I could have faked my way through it and pretended to be one of them, but I hated thinking that I had to. And even more than that, I hated the way so many people were stuck in slums to work for almost nothing, and how they just gave up and accepted that! I kept on thinking, 'You don't deserve that kind of life, and your boss certainly doesn't, so why don't you just stab him in the throat with a pair of scissors, and at least go down fighting!' I just never got it, you know, how they could just live their whole lives on their knees." She bit her lip. "I still don't. But if I had one wish, I'd wish for a world where they didn't have to."

She looked at Lelouch, not sure if she expected him to be smirking smugly or even paying attention. He was staring ahead solemnly and nodded. "So how about you?"

"Pardon?" he said.

"What did you wish for?"

WWW

"Okay, that is the last time I ever break into someone's house."

Milly laughed. "Oh, come on, Rivalz, you can be such a wuss sometimes. You can't say that you would have had more fun sitting here in the club room the whole time."

"See this face?" Rivalz asked, pointing at his own. "Notice how there aren't any bullet holes in it? That's how I like it."

"Sure, be boring," Milly suggested. "Hey, Shirley! What did you think of Lelouch's crazy ex?"

"Oh, she seemed nice," Shirley mumbled distractedly.

Rivalz and Milly shared a look. "Um, Shirley? Are you okay?"

She looked up. "Of course! It's just that I was thinking. What if she was right?"

"About what?" Milly asked. "About Lelouch having magic powers, or about him being Zero?"

"Zero," Shirley said. "I mean, I know it sounds crazy, but..."

"Yes it does," Rivalz agreed. Milly kicked him. "Ow!"

"It's kind of odd, once you think about it," Shirley said. "One of the first things the Black Knights did was attack another group of terrorists, exactly at the same time they were holding us hostage, and before that, Zero saved Suzaku from being executed, and ever since Suzaku started coming to school here, they've been like best friends."

"That's just a coincidence," Milly insisted. "I mean think about it. The first thing Zero did was kill the old viceroy, Prince Clovis at Shinjuku, remember? And Lelouch was with Rivalz the whole time."

"Exactly," Rivalz said.

"Except for the part where he was kidnapped by terrorists," Shirley said.

"I was joking!" Rivalz said defensively.

"That's not what it sounded like at the time!"

"Okay, fine," Rivalz said, defeated. "I only said that so Lelouch wouldn't sick his Elevens on me."

Shirley glared at him. "I'm serious, Rivalz."

"And I'm confused. Look, Lelouch told us one thing, and some crazy lady waving a gun at us said something else. Who are you going to believe?"

"Because Lelouch has a sterling record of honesty," Milly muttered to herself.

"I know, but if he is," Milly said, "_if_, then what does that mean about Zero?"

Rivalz shrugged. "I know what it says about Lelouch," he said. "That he's willing to put on that silly costume and go on television in it, while all this time we've had to tie him to a chair to put cat ears on him."

Shirley smiled. "Yeah, you're right. That's not like him at all," she said, but inside, all she was thinking about was a mysterious phone call right before Narita that had saved her father's life.

WWW

Gears turned in Cornelia's head, gauging the risks she knew she would have to take.

"I know that look, your Highness," Guilford said beside her. "You are contemplating severe and imminent danger."

She smiled, or at least forced herself to. "Am I that transparent?"

"When you think about taking risks, I find myself taking risks I haven't thought of. Ever since you chose me as your knight, that has been my honor and my duty."

"My knight," she mused. "Are you?"

"Of course I'm your knight," he said. "Until the day you release me from your service."

"No, not 'are you my knight,' are you mine?"

He met her eyes. "Yes."

"And who else is mine?" Cornelia said. "I brought at least fifty men with me who served me well in Area Eighteen. They haven't forgotten me already, have they?"

"You have been gone a long time, your Highness," he reminded her. "Out of those fifty, some have died, but most have completed their term of service. Out of the original fifty, there remain only...ten? No, eleven."

Cornelia smiled at the irony. "You're kidding me."

"If you are planning what I think you are," Guilford said, "might it be better to leave behind some men sympathetic to your cause?"

Cornelia considered that. "We'll have to travel light anyway. They'd slow us down."

Guilford swallowed. "I suppose there's no chance that I could talk you out of this?"

Cornelia laughed. "I haven't even decided what I'm going to do."

"But...?"

"My father picked a fight with my little sister. He should know better than that. I'm going to have a talk with her before I do anything drastic, but just in case, there's something I need you to do..."

WWW

Lloyd Asplund was most aptly described as a force of intelligent entropy. He disturbed most people, not because he would watch someone die slowly out of curiosity, but because he'd get bored and go do something else.

"Hey, look, Cecile!" Lloyd called out. "It's our friend Schneizel! Have you gotten my Lancelot back yet?"

Schneizel shook his head. "That is still a work in progress. And even if I did, I doubt its pilot would survive the process."

The scientist scowled. "Then what good are you? The Lancelot won't work without the Suzaku component!"

"Lloyd!" his assistant scolded urgently. "You can't talk to him like that, he's a prince!"

"Prince?" Lloyd said, looking back at him. "Still? How long is Charles planning on living?"

It was amazing the sort of things you could get away with saying when you were indispensable. "Until he dies, I assume," he replied calmly. "How are the countermeasures to the Gefjun Disturber you were working on?"

"I have a few ideas," Lloyd said. "The disturbers you brought back have either burned out or have partially self-destructed, so I won't be able to test it, oh, what's the word? Humanely."

"I'm sure you'll get your chance. There was something else I wanted to ask you about." Schneizel explained the situation.

"Really? Why would you want _that_?"

"Subtlety," he explained.

"Sounds boring, but yeah, I have something for that. Twenty somethings, at least."

"Good. Have them installed."

WWW

Cornelia had been looking forward to seeing her sister again. She had spent most of her time imprisoned by Zero and his Elevens worrying about her, wishing that she had done something more to prepare her for the responsibilities that she would never be ready for.

She had hoped that Euphie would be in better shape than she was.

A five by five metal room wasn't what she expected.

"Open it," she ordered a nearby prison guard. The cell door creaked open, waking the sleeping princess.

Euphemia squinted in the sudden light and rolled over. Her full body prison garb prevented her from even standing up. "Cornelia?" she rasped, her throat dry. "Cornelia! You're back! I knew you'd come back!"

Cornelia knelt down and began undoing Euphemia's straps that bound her. "Disgraceful. I spent most of the year held captive by terrorist Elevens, and _I_ got better treatment than this." Freed, Euphemia threw her arms around Cornelia and hugged her. Euphie was always more affectionate than, well, anyone. "Anyway," Cornelia said, "I was talking with Schneizel, and we came up with a way to get you cleared, your knight too, if he cooperates."

"Really? But...our father..."

"He won't care. He doesn't care about anything these days, and he doesn't get bogged down in the details more than which nation to conquer next."

"He cared about me," Euphemia whispered. "I don't know what I did, but I don't think he'll forgive me for it. And I know I won't forgive him."

There was an uncharacteristic venom in her voice. Well, being locked up in a prison cell could do that to you. "What happened, anyway?" Cornelia asked. "I've never known you to be more rebellious than to play hooky now and then, and I now I find you accused of treason."

"Have you heard about Utopia?"

She hesitated. "The myth?"

Euphemia shook her head. "A city under the Special Administration Zone. It's a place where Japanese citizens have equal rights as Britannians. It wasn't much, but it gave them hope for fair treatment."

Cornelia frowned. "That's not what I would have done, but go on."

"Everything was going so well at first. The Japanese had what they wanted, so they stopped fighting. Then our father sent a fleet in to destroy the city."

"Why?"

"I don't know! They said that it was to uproot terrorist activity within the city, but I don't know what the real reason was."

"You're sure that wasn't the real reason?"

She nodded. "The only major terrorist group left is the Black Knights, and I know Zero wouldn't do something like that."

"How do you know what Zero would do?"

Euphemia bit her lip and looked away without answering. She knew she was a bad liar, and had mostly given up on the art.

"Hold on, you said that our father sent the fleet? Personally, or..."

"Two Knights of the Rounds led them."

Cornelia began pacing thoughtfully. "So our father, in defiance of precedent and protocol, sends his personal forces to an insignificant province to deal with an insignificant problem that might not have even existed. Now, I understand you sent your knight to intervene."

"Yes."

"And for that you got accused of treason. You could kill me in cold blood, and our father wouldn't give you more than a thumbs up for encouraging natural selection, and you get treason charges for this. And your status, both as princess and former viceroy, guarantee you better quarters than these, and I know that Schneizel wouldn't intervene to shift you to this dump, so I'm assuming that our father is responsible for this too."

"I guess so," Euphemia replied uncertainly.

"I hate to say this," Cornelia said, "but this is starting to sound like a vendetta."

"But I didn't do anything!" she insisted.

No, but if Euphemia wasn't the Emperor's enemy, than what was she? A sacrifice? A victim?

Bait?

Cornelia walked towards the exit of the prison, and Euphemia followed her, leaving her cell for the first time in she didn't know how long.

The prison guard stopped them. "The prisoner is not allowed to leave."

"Prisoner?" Cornelia repeated. "Princess, you mean."

The guard swallowed nervously. "Er, yes. Princess. I meant to say princess."

"She needs some fresh air and sunlight. How long have you kept her here, anyway?"

"I don't know, um, your Highness, ma'am, but I'm not allowed."

"You are aware that not only do I have justifiable cause to plead temporary insanity, but I outrank you so completely so that I could kill you and not have to plead anything?"

The guard trembled. "If you kill me, I will have every reason to prevent you from visiting in the future."

"Have you ever been afraid?" Cornelia asked softly, icily. "So afraid that you wished that you could just go ahead and _die_ just to make it stop?"

The guard paled and looked like he was about to pass out, but to his credit he stood his ground. "Cornelia!" Euphemia protested.

"Oh, fine," she conceded. "Tell me, Euphie. Do you still faint at the sight of blood?"

"I don't _faint_, I just don't like it."

"Fair enough." Cornelia drew her pistol and clubbed the guard in the head with it. He dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks. All in all, he seemed fairly content with how things turned out.

"Is he alright?" Euphemia gasped.

"You worry too much." They stepped out of the prison and Cornelia pulled out her phone. "Hey, Guilford. We're going with plan A. You all set up? Good. When can you pick us up? Really? Well hurry up then."

Euphemia put a hand on her shoulder. "What's plan A?"

"We're short on friends, so we're going to go find some enemies."

"But we already have enemies."

"Our own. We need other people's enemies. Also relax and try to look natural. If you break the rules boldly enough, people assume they don't apply to you."

"Oh look! Someone's coming!"

"Now what did I just...for the love of...Is there a problem soldier?" she said to the guard that had approached them.

"Princess Cornelia," the guard said stiffly. "Princess Euphemia is charged with serious crimes against the Empire, and is not permitted out here."

"You know," Cornelia said. "Most people in my position are welcomed home as heroes instead of getting all the red tape. Look, we're just going for a short walk. The guard back there already said we could."

The guard looked at the prison they just came out of. "He did? Excuse me for a moment."

Euphemia looked at her imploringly, but Cornelia just smiled. Then the ceiling collapsed. "Oh look, Euphie. Our ride's here."

Guilford in his Knightmare fell to the floor with enough to force to shake the earth and fell to his knees, offering a massive mechanical hand to the princesses. Amidst the panicked screams, one of the guards reached for his gun, then decided that today was only a good day to die inasmuch as it applied to other people, and ducked for cover instead. Cornelia and Euphemia climbed onto the Knightmare's hand, and the three of them flew through the hole in the ceiling.

"This is plan A?" Euphemia shouted over the wind.

Cornelia grinned. "I hope they make us resort to plan B. Guilford! Did you place the explosives yet?"

"Yes, your Highness."

"Explosives? What do you need explosives for?"

"Panic," Cornelia said. "It helps."

"Is that a statement or a suggestion?"

"Whatever. Guilford, now."

"Gladly, your Highness."

A hundred feet below them, a hangar exploded. People screamed and ran, and Guilford flew the Knightmare into the middle of the chaos.

Cornelia jumped off the Knightmare's hand and stopped a nearby soldier. "You! What is the meaning of this?"

The man's uniform was stained with soot and sweat glazed his brow. "Princess Cornelia! We're under attack! It might be terrorists!"

"_Might_ be terrorists, brilliant," Cornelia snorted. "This has Zero written all over it, right under the word 'distraction.' You're a pilot?"

"Yes, your Highness, of the Oz division."

"Good. I'm requisitioning your Knightmare."

"What?"

"Deal with it. Inform Schneizel what's happening, and to expect an attack on the R and D division."

He quickly handed her his key and code. "Is that Princess Euphemia?" the man said, noticing her for the first time. "What is she doing here?"

"That doesn't matter right now! So unless you have something to say that suggests that you're competent..."

"Yes, your Highness. I'm on my way."

Cornelia grinned at Euphemia after the man left. "See? Like I said. It helps."

WWW

"And you say that Euphemia was with her?"

"Yes, Prince Schneizel. She predicted an attack on the R and D."

"Indeed?" Schneizel said thoughtfully. "I'll take that into account. You may leave." He radioed Bartly calmly. "Officer Bartly, I understand that after the explosion, two Knightmares fled the scene."

"Two of ours, yes, your Highness."

"Not anymore. Send a squad to apprehend them. Twenty should be convincing enough."

"Yes, your Highness. I have sufficient forces stationed offshore to intersect them."

"No, that won't be necessary. We wouldn't want to catch them, now would we?"

Bartly hesitated. "Understood?"

Schneizel ended the call. "Or at least obeyed. Now lead the way, my dear sister. Lead the way."

WWW

Euphemia shifted uncomfortably in the tight space. "It's so cramped in here. Why do they make these things so small?"

"Cost efficiency," Cornelia explained. "In the old days these things didn't even have air conditioning. I probably could have gotten you in a Knightmare too, if you knew how to pilot them."

"I can pilot!" Euphemia said indignantly. "Mostly."

"Yeah, I've seen you. I didn't even know you _could_ break a Clocksphere."

"That could have happened to anyone!"

"Technically."

"So, where are we going? Europe's on the other side of the world, and China is too neutral to be willing to help us."

"I have a plan, but you're not going to like it," Cornelia said. "We're going to seek asylum under the Black Knights."

"Really? That's great!"

"Um, you weren't supposed to like it."

"But I'll be able to see Suzaku again!" Euphemia said. "And you...you'll be branded a traitor. For the rest of your life."

"Don't worry about it," Cornelia said. "It was either that or leave you to our father's mercy, and I'd sooner drop you into a pool of sharks."

"Aw! Thank you!"

"Hey! Hey! Stop that! Do not hug me while I'm driving."

"Princess Cornelia," Guilford called out from his Knightmare. "We are being pursued. Shall we engage in evasive maneuvering, or would you like me to slow them down?"

"Neither. We're almost there."

"You are sure about this?"

"The only thing that I'm sure about is that we're in trouble." Cornelia scanned the seas that they were flying over. The water all looked the same, but they were close, she knew they were. She was here just that morning, and Zero _said_ they'd be there.

Apparently it was too much to hope for the Black Knight's submarine to not be submerged.

Cornelia flew close to the water, hoping that she'd be able to pick up _something_.

"Cornelia?" Euphemia asked.

"He said he'd be here," Cornelia hissed. "That was the deal. This is the spot, so where are you?"

She realized that putting her life and her sister's life in the hands of a mass murderer with a known vendetta against the royal family might not have been a good idea.

Their pursuers surrounded them.

"ZERO!"

WWW

a/n I can't believe that some people thought that this story was dead. I mean, can't I disappear for a few months without people assuming the worst? Oh well. Anyway, if you guessed that the character that would die this chapter was no one, you were correct. I was planning on posting this on the ides of March so I could make a joke about Caesar dying, but then there were five complications and a lizard, and I got delayed.

I will not apologize for my use of puns, so don't ask me to.


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